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SANTA  BARBAE^  STATE  CQLLE3E  LIBRART 


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LUTHER  IN   THE  CASTLE  OF  THE   WART  BURG 

From  a  Painting  by  H.    Vogel 


THE 


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LIBRARY  OF  ORATOR\ 

•   ANCIENT  AND  MODERN  • 


Copyright,    1902, 

BY 
J.     C.     TlCHENOR 


\1\ 


TABLE   OF  CONTENTS 

VOLUME   IV 


BORN.   PAGE. 

Alexander  Hamilton 1757  i 

On  the  Expediency  of  Adopting  the  Federal 
Constitution. 

Fisher  Ames       . 1758        12 

On  the  British  Treaty. 

James  Monroe 1758        26 

Federal  Experiments  in  History. 

Robespierre 1758        33 

Against  Granting  the  King  a  Trial. 

Von  Dobelin 1758       42 

Address  to  the  Finnish  Troops. 

William  Pitt 1759       45 

On  Refusal   to  Negotiate. 

William  Wilberforce 1759       96 

Horrors  of  the  British  Slave  Trade. 

Danton 1759      108 

To    Dare,  to    Dare  Again;    Always  to  Dare. 

Against  Imprisonment  for  Debt         ...  no 

Education,  Free  and  Compulsory.      .       .       .  in 

Freedom  of  Worship 114 

Squeezing  the  Sponge 115 

On  the  Assassination  of  Lepeletier.         .       .  117 

On  the  Abolition  of  Slavery 123 

(V) 


vi  TAHLE    OF    CONTENTS 

BORN.   PAGE. 

Desmoulins 1760      125 

Live  Free  or  Die. 

The  Appeal  to  the  People.  ....  128 

Albert  Gallatin 1761      138 

Speech  on  the  British  Peace  Treaty. 

Samuel  Dexter 1761      154 

Argument  in  Selfridge's  Trial. 

Barnave 1761       159 

Representative  Democracy  against  Majority 
Absolutism. 

Commercial  Politics. 163 

Oration  for  the  Crown 165 

ROYER-COLLARD 1 763         1 69 

"Sacrilege"'  in  Law. 

Against  Press  Censorship 172 

William  Conyngham  Plunket 1764      i75 

On  the  Competency  of  the  Irish  Parliament 

to  Pass  the  Measure  of  Union. 
Denunciation  of  the  Men  and  the  Means  by 

Which  the  Union  was   Perpetrated.     .       .  178 

William  Pinkney 1764      181 

Speech    for    the     Relief    of    the    Oppressed 
Slaves. 

Harrison  Gray  Otis 1765      189 

Eulogy  on  Alexander  Hamilton. 

James  Mackintosh 1765      207 

On  the  Trial  of  Jean  Peltier. 

Moreau 1763      234 

Speech  in  His  Own  Defence. 

Saint-Just 1767      240 

Arraignment  of  Danton. 

4 


table  of  contents  vu 

born.  page. 
Benjamin  Constant 1767      250 

Free  Speech  Necessary  for  Good  Government 

On  the  Dissolution  of  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  255 

John  Quincy  Adams 1767      272 

Oration  at  Plymouth. 

Andrew  Jackson 1767      293 

State  Rights  and  Federal  Sovereignty. 

Farewell  Address 298 

Chateaubriand 1768      310 

Government  Intervention. 

De  Witt  Clinton 1769      318 

Phi  Beta  Kappa  Address. 

Duke  of  Wellington 1769      329 

Speech  on  Catholic  Emancipation. 

Napoleon 1769      343 

Address    to    Army    at    Beginning   of   Italian 

Campaign 344 

Proclamation  to  Army.            344 

To  Soldiers  on  Entering  Milan.          .       .       .  345 

Address  to  Soldiers  during  Siege  of  Mantua.  347 
Address    to    Troops   on   Conclusion   of  First 

Italian  Campaign 347 

Address  to  Troops  after  War  of  Third  Coa- 
lition   348 

Address  to  Troops  on  Beginning  the  Russian 

Campaign 35° 

Farewell  to  the  Old  Guard 35° 

James  Scarlett 1769      352 

Charge  to  the  Jury. 

Tecumseh 1768      362 

Speech  at  Vincennes. 

Speech  to  General  Proctor 3^4 

George  Canning ^no     367 

On  Affording  Aid  to  Portugal. 

4 


viii  TABLE    OF    CONTENTS 

BORN.  PAGE. 

Tristam  Burges 1770     392 

Rebuke  to  Randolph. 

Franzen 1772      408 

"The  Sword  shall  Pierce  Thy  Heart." 

JosiAH  QuiNCY 1772      4" 

On  the  Admission  of  Louisiana. 

John  Randolph '773      424 

On  Foreign  Importations. 

William  Wirt 1772      457 

Speech  at  the  Trial  of  Aaron  Burr. 


ALEXANDER  HAMILTON 


JLEXAXDER  HAMILTON,  a  distinguished  American  statesman,  soldier, 
financier,  orator,  and  writer,  and  the  most  eminent  among  the  founders 
of  the  United  States  government,  was  born  on  the  island  of  Nevis, 
in  the  West  Indies,  Jan.  11,  1757,  and  died  at  New  York,  July  12, 
1804.  The  son  of  a  Scotch  merchant,  who  had  married  a  Frenchwoman,  young 
Hamilton  was  sent  to  this  country  to  be  educated,  entering  Colurnbia  College, 
New  York,  in  1774,  and  while  still  a  student  of  the  institution  becoming  cap- 
tain of  an  artillery  company  in  the  Continental  army.  In  that  capacity  he  saw 
considerable  military  service,  being  present  at  the  battle  of  Long  Island  and  in 
the  engagements  at  Harlem  Plains,  New  Brunswick,  Trenton,  and  Princeton.  In 
the  winter  of  1776-77  he  became  private  secretary  to  General  Washington,  and 
was  raised  to  the  rank  of  lieutenant-colonel.  In  October,  1781,  he  was  present  with 
a  command  under  Washington,  when  General  (afterward  Marquis  of)  Cornwallis 
surrendered  at  Yorktown,  and  in  the  previous  year  he  married  a  daughter  of 
General  Philip  Schuyler.  He  now  abandoned  military  life  and  studied  law,  be- 
coming a  member  of  the  Continental  Congress  in  1782.  Five  years  later  he 
appeared  as  leader  in  the  Philadelphia  Convention  which  framed  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States,  and  in  the  following  year  was  also  a  member  of  the  New 
York  ratifying  convention.  He  moreover  was  one  of  the  chief  and  ablest  writers 
in  "The  Federalist,"  contributing  to  it  over  fifty  thoughtful  essays  explaining 
the  scope  and  power  of  the  new  Constitution.  In  Washington's  Cabinet  he  accepted 
the  office  of  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  and  served  in  that  capacity  through  both 
administrations,  gaining  ^clat  for  his  success  in  restoring  the  public  credit  during 
his  period  of  office,  for  founding  the  United  States  Bank,  and  establishing  the 
funding  system  of  the  young  nation.  Resigning  this  post  in  1795,  and  refusing 
the  office  of  Chief-Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court,  Hamilton  resumed  his  practice 
at  the  New  York  bar,  where  he  became  an  able  and  influential  leader.  During 
the  troubles  with  France,  he  accepted  in  1798  the  office  of  inspector-general  of 
the  army,  with  the  rank  of  Major-General,  and  in  the  following  year  he  acted 
for  a  time  as  Commander-in-Chief.  In  1804,  when  Aaron  Burr  was  a  candidate 
for  the  governorship  of  New  York,  Hamilton  threw  his  influence  against  him, 
whereby  Burr  was  defeated,  and  he  also  opposed  Burr's  candidature  for  the  presi- 
dency, favoring  a  second  term  for  Jefferson.  This  attitude  of  Hamilton  was 
bitterly  resented  by  Burr,  who  sent  the  former  a  challenge  to  fight  a  duel,  which 
Hamilton  reluctantly  accepted,  and  was  mortally  wounded  in  the  encounter  at 
Weehawken,  N.  J.,  July  11,  1804,  and  died  on  the  following  day,  to  the  horror 
and  grief  of  the  whole  country.  See  the  complete  works  of  Alexander  Hamilton 
(8  vols.,  1888),  also  "Lives"  by  Morse,  by  Lodge,  and  by  his  son,  John  C.  Hamil- 
ton. 

Vol.  4—1  (1) 


Z  ALEXANDER    HAMILTON 

Hamilton's  career  is  one  of  great  interest  to  those  who  seek  to  study  intelligently 
the  beginnings  of  the  nation.  A  man  of  great  personal  force  and  of  strong  aristocratic 
feeling,  he  represented  the  principle-  of  authority,  of  jjovernment  framed  and  adminis- 
tered by  the  few  for  the  benefit  of  the  many.  In  a  series  of  papers  Hamilton  had 
exposed  the  inherent  defects  of  the  existing  Confederation,  and  it  is  now  generally 
acknowledged  that  the  first  suggestion  toward  the  establishment  of  an  adequate  Federal 
Government  came  from  him.  Although  the  particular  plan  proposed  by  Hamilton  in 
the  Federal  Convention,  which  met  at  Philadelphia  in  1787,  was  laid  aside,  yet  it  was 
the  spirit  of  the  system  conceived  by  him  which  then  and  there  prevailed,  and  has  since 
been  a  controlling  principle  in  the  administration  of  the  Federal  Government.  Guizot 
has  said  of  him  that  "there  is  not  in  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  an  element 
of  order,  of  force,  and  of  duration,  which  he  did  not  powerfully  contribute  to  inject  into 
it  and  cause  to  predominate."  While  it  was  still  uncertain  whether  the  Constitution 
would  be  adopted  by  the  several  State  conventions,  Hamilton,  in  conjunction  with 
James  Madison  and  .John  Jay,  wrote,  as  has  been  said,  "  The  Federalist,"  to  recommend 
the  proposed  national  organic  law  as  the  best  obtainable  .under  the  circumstances. 


ON    THE    EXPEDIENCY   OF    ADOPTING    THE    FEDERAL 

CONSTITUTION 

CONVENTION   OF  NEW  YORK,  JUNE  24,   1788 


I  AM  persuaded,  Mr.  Chairman,  that  I  in  my  turn  shall 
be  indulged,  in  addressing  the  committee.  We  all,  in 
equal  sincerity,  profess  to  be  anxious  for  the  establish- 
ment of  a  republican  government,  on  a  safe  and  solid  basis. 
It  is  the  object  of  the  wishes  of  every  honest  man  in  the 
United  States,  and  I  presume  that  I  shall  not  be  disbelieved, 
when  I  declare,  that  it  is  an  object  of  all  others  the  nearest 
and  most  dear  to  my  own  heart.  The  means  of  accomplish- 
ing this  great  purpose  become  the  most  important  study 
which  can  interest  mankind.  It  is  our  duty  to  examine  all 
those  means  with  peculiar  attention,  and  to  choose  the  best 
and  most  effectual.  It  is  our  duty  to  draw  from  nature, 
from  reason,  from  examples,  the  best  principles  of  policy, 
and  to  pursue  and  apply  them  in  the  formation  of  our 
government.     We   should    contemplate    and    compare   the 


THE  FEDERAL  CONSTITUTION  3 

systems,  which,  m  this  examination,  come  under  our  view; 
distinguish,  with  a  careful  eye,  the  defects  and  excellencies 
of  each,  and,  discarding  the  former,  incorporate  the  latter, 
as  far  as  circumstances  will  admit,  into  our  Constitution.  If 
we  pursue  a  different  course  and  neglect  this  duty,  we  shall 
probably  disappoint  the  expectations  of  our  country  and  of 
the  w'orld. 

In  the  commencement  of  a  revolution,  which  received 
its  birth  from  the  usurpations  of  tyranny,  nothing  was  more 
natural  than  that  the  public  mind  should  be  influenced  by 
an  extreme  spirit  of  jealousy.  To  resist  these  encroach- 
ments, and  to  nourish  this  spirit,  was  the  great  object  of 
all  our  public  and  private  institutions.  The  zeal  for  liberty 
became  predominant  and  excessive.  In  forming  our  Con- 
federation, this  passion  alone  seemed  to  actuate  us,  and  we 
appear  to  have  had  no  other  view  than  to  secure  ourselves 
from  despotism.  The  object  certainly  was  a  valuable  one, 
and  deserved  our  utmost  attention.  But,  sir,  there  is  an- 
other object  equally  important,  and  which  our  enthusiasm 
rendered  us  little  capable  of  regarding:  I  mean  a  principle 
of  strength  and  stability  in  the  organization  of  our  govern- 
ment, and  vigor  in  its  operations.  This  purpose  can  never 
be  accomplished  but  by  the  establishment  of  some  select 
body,  formed  peculiarly  upon  this  principle.  There  are 
few  positions  more  demonstrable  than  that  there  should  be 
in  every  republic  some  permanent  body  to  correct  the 
prejudices,  check  the  intemperate  passions,  and  regulate 
the  fluctuations  of  a  popular  assembly.  It  is  evident  that 
a  body  instituted  for  these  purposes  must  be  so  formed  as 
to  exclude  as  much  as  possible  from  its  owm  character 
those  infirmities  and  that  mutability  which  it  is  designed 
to   remedy.     It   is   therefore   necessary   that   it   should  be 


ALEXANDER    HAMILTON 


small,  that  it  should  hold  its  authority  during  a  consider- 
able period,  and  that  it  should  have  such  an  independence 
in  the  exercise  of  its  powers  as  will  divest  it  as  much  as 
possible  of  local  prejudices.  It  should  be  so  formed  as  to 
be  the  centre  of  political  knowledge,  to  pursue  always 
a  steady  line  of  conduct,  and  to  reduce  every  irregular 
propensity  to  system.  Without  this  establishment,  we  may 
make  experiments  without  end,  but  shall  never  have  an 
efficient  government. 

It  is  an  unquestionable  truth,  that  the  body  of  the  people 
in  every  country  desire  sincerely  its  prosperity;  but  it  is 
equally  unquestionable,  that  they  do  not  possess  the  dis- 
cernment and  stability  necessary  for  systematic  govern- 
ment. To  deny  that  they  are  frequently  led  into  the 
grossest  errors  by  misinformation  and  passion,  would  be 
a  flattery  which  their  own  good  sense  must  despise.  That 
branch  of  administration  especially,  which  involves  our 
political  relations  with  foreign  States,  a  community  will 
ever  be  incompetent  to.  These  truths  are  not  often  held 
up  in  public  assemblies,  but  they  cannot  be  unknown  to 
any  who  hear  me.  From  these  principles  it  follows,  that 
there  ought  to  be  two  distinct  bodies  in  our  government- 
one,  which  shall  be  immediately  constituted  by  and  pecul 
iarly  represent  the  people,  and  possess  all  the  popular 
features;  another,  formed  upon  the  principle  and  for  the 
purposes  before  explained.  Such  considerations  as  these  in- 
duced the  Convention  who  formed  your  State  Constitution, 
to  institute  a  Senate  upon  the  present  plan.  The  history  of 
ancient  and  modern  republics  had  taught  them,  that  many 
of  the  evils  which  these  republics  had  suffered,  arose  from 
the  want  of  a  certain  balance  and  mutual  control  indispen- 
eable  to  a  wise  administration;  they  were  convinced  that 


THE  FEDERAL  CONSTITUTION  5 

popular  assemblies  are  frequently  misguided  by  ignorance, 
by  sudden  impulses,  and  the  intrigues  of  ambitious  men; 
and  that  some  firm  barrier  against  these  operations  was 
necessary;  they,  therefore,  instituted  your  Senate,  and  the 
benefits  we  have  experienced  have  fully  justified  their  con- 
ceptions. .  .  . 

Gentlemen,  in  their  reasoning,  have  placed  the  interests 
of  the  several  States  and  those  of  the  United  States  in  con- 
trast ;  this  is  not  a  fair  view  of  the  subject ;  they  must  neces- 
saril;^  be  involved  in  each  other.  What  we  apprehend  is, 
that  some  sinister  prejudice,  or  some  prevailing  passion, 
may  assume  the  form  of  a  genuine  interest.  The  influence 
of  these  is  as  powerful  as  the  most  permanent  conviction  of 
the  public  good;  and  agamst  this  influence  we  ought  to 
provide.  The  local  interests  of  a  State  ought  in  every  case 
to  give  way  to  the  interests  of  the  Union ;  for  when  a  sacri- 
fice of  one  or  the  other  is  necessary,  the  former  becomes 
only  an  apparent,  partial  interest,  and  should  yield,  on  the 
principle  that  the  small  good  ought  never  to  oppose  the 
great  one.  When  you  assemble  from  your  several  counties 
in  the  Legislature,  were  every  member  to  be  guided  only 
by  the  apparent  interests  of  his  county,  government  would 
be  impracticable.  There  must  be  a  perpetual  accommoda- 
tion and  sacrifice  of  local  advantages  to  general  expediency ; 
but  the  spirit  of  a  mere  popular  assembly  would  rarely  be 
actuated  by  this  important  principle.  It  is  therefore  abso- 
lutely necessary  that  the  Senate  should  be  so  formed,  as  to 
be  unbiased  by  false  conceptions  of  the  real  interests,  or 
undue  attachment  to  the  apparent  good  of  their  several 
States. 

Gentlemen  indulge  too  many  unreasonable  apprehensions 
of  danger  to  the  State  governments;  they  seem  to  suppose 


6  ALEXANDER  HAMILTON 

that  the  moment  yon  put  men  into  a  national  conncil,  they 
become  corrupt  and  tyrannical,  and  lose  all  their  affection 
for  their  fellow-citizens.  But  can  we  imagine  that  the 
Senators  will  ever  be  so  insensible  of  their  o\m  advantage, 
as  to  sacrifice  the  genuine  interest  of  their  constituents? 
The  State  governments  are  essentially  necessary  to  the  form 
and  spirit  of  the  general  system.  As  long,  therefore,  as 
Congress  has  a  full  conviction  of  this  necessity,  they  must, 
even  upon  principles  purely  national,  have  as  firm  an  at- 
tachment to  the  one  as  to  the  other.  This  conviction  can 
never  leave  them,  unless  they  become  madmen.  While  the 
Constitution  continues  to  be  read,  and  its  principle  known, 
the  States  must,  by  every  rational  man,  be  considered  as 
essential,  component  parts  of  the  Union ;  and  therefore  the 
idea  of  sacrificing  the  former  to  the  latter  is  whollv  inad- 
missible. 

The  objectors  do  not  advert  to  the  natural  strength  and 
resources  of  State  governments,  which  will  ever  give  them 
an  important  superiority  over  the  general  government.  If 
we  compare  the  nature  of  their  different  powers,  or  the 
means  of  popular  infiuence  which  each  possesses,  we  shall 
find  the  advantage  entirely  on  the  side  of  the  States.  This 
consideration,  important  as  it  is,  seems  to  have  been  little 
attended  to.  The  aggregate  number  of  Representatives 
throughout  the  States  may  be  two  thousand.  Their  per- 
sonal influence  will,  therefore,  be  proportionably  more  ex- 
tensive than  that  of  one  or  two  hundred  men  in  Congress. 
The  State  establishments  of  civil  and  military  ofiicers  of 
every  description,  infinitely  surpassing  in  nimiber  any  pos- 
sible correspondent  establishments  in  the  general  govern- 
ment, will  create  such  an  extent  and  complication  of  attach- 
ments, as  will  ever  secure  the  predilection  and  support  of 


THE    FEDERAT,    TONSTITUTION  7 


the  people.  "Whenever,  therefore,  Congress  shall  meditate 
any  infringement  of  the  State  Constitutions,  the  great  body 
of  the  people  will  naturally  take  part  with  their  domestic 
representatives.  Can  the  general  government  withstand 
such  a  united  opposition?  Will  the  people  suffer  them- 
selves to  be  stripped  of  their  privileges?  Will  they  suffer 
their  Legislatures  to  be  reduced  to  a  shadow  and  a  name? 
The  idea  is  shocking  to  common-sense 

From  the  circumstances  already  explained,  and  many 
others  which  might  be  mentioned,  results  a  complicated, 
irresistible  check,  which  must  ever  support  the  existence 
and  importance  of  the  State  governments.  The  danger,  if 
any  exists,  flows  from  an  opposite  source.  The  probable 
evil  is,  that  the  general  government  will  be  too  dependent 
on  the  State  Legislatures,  too  much  governed  by  their 
prejudices,  and  too  obsequious  to  their  humors;  that  the 
States,  with  every  power  in  their  hands,  will  make  en- 
croachments on  the  national  authority,  till  the  Union  is 
weakened  and  dissolved. 

Every  member  must  have  been  struck  with  an  observa- 
tion of  a  gentleman  from  Albany.  Do  what  you  will,  says 
he,  local  prejudices  and  opinions  will  go  into  the  govern- 
ment. What!  shall  we  then  form  a  Constitution  to  cherish 
and  strengthen  these  prejudices?  Shall  we  confirm  the 
distemper,  instead  of  remedying  it.  It  is  undeniable  that 
there  must  be  a  control  somewhere.  Either  the  general 
interest  is  to  control  the  particular  interests,  or  the  con- 
trary. If  the  former,  then  certainly  the  government  ought 
to  be  so  framed,  as  to  render  the  power  of  control  efUcient 
to  all  intents  and  purposes;  if  the  latter,  a  striking  absurd 
ity  follows;  the  controlling  powers  must  be  as  numerous  as 
the  varying  interests,  and  the  operations  of  the  government 


8  ALEXANDER   HAMILTON 

must  therefore  cease ;  for  tlu'  moment  you  accommodate 
these  different  interests,  which  is  the  only  way  to  set  the 
government  in  motion,  you  establish  a  controlling  power. 
Thus,  whatever  constitutional  provisions  are  made  to  the 
contrary,  every  government  will  be  at  last  driven  to  the 
necessity  of  subjecting  the  partial  to  the  universal  interest. 
The  gentlemen  ought  always,  in  their  reasoning,  to  distin- 
guish between  the  real,  genuine  good  of  a  State,  and  the 
opinions  and  prejudices  which  may  prevail  respecting  it ; 
the  latter  may  be  opposed  to  the  general  good,  and  conse- 
quently ought  to  be  sacrificed ;  the  former  is  so  involved 
in  it  that  it  never  can  be  sacrificed. 

There  are  certain  social  principles  in  human  nature  from 
which  we  may  draw  the  most  solid  conclusions  with  respect 
to  the  conduct  of  individuals  and  of  communities.  We  love 
our  families  more  than  our  neighbors ;  we  love  our  neigh- 
bors more  than  our  coimtrymen  in  general.  The  human 
affections,  like  the  solar  heat,  lose  their  intensity  as  they 
depart  from  the  centre,  and  become  languid  in  ])roportion 
to  the  expansion  of  the  circle  on  which  they  act.  On  these 
principles,  the  attachment  of  the  individual  will  be  first  and 
forever  secured  by  the  State  governments ;  they  will  be  a 
mutual  protection  and  support.  Another  source  of  influ- 
ence, which  has  already  been  pointed  out,  is  the  various 
official  connections  in  the  States.  Gentlemen  endeavor  to 
evade  the  force  of  this  by  saying  that  these  offices  will  be 
insignificant.  This  is  by  no  means  true.  The  State  oflScers 
will  ever  be  important,  because  they  arc  necessary  and  use- 
ful. Their  powers  are  such  as  are  extremely  interesting  to 
the  people ;  such  as  affect  their  property,  their  liberty,  and 
life.  What  is  more  important  than  the  administration  of 
justice  and  the  execution  of  the  civil  and  criminal  laws? 


THE    FEDERAL    CONSTITUTION  9 

Can  the  State  governments  become  insignificant  while  they 
have  the  power  of  raising  money  independently  and  without 
control  ?  If  they  are  really  useful ;  if  they  are  calculated  to 
promote  the  essential  interests  of  the  people;  they  must 
have  their  confidence  and  support.  The  States  can  never 
lose  their  powers  till  the  whole  people  of  America  are 
robbed  of  their  liberties.  These  must  go  together;  they 
must  support  each  other,  or  meet  one  common  fate.  On  the 
gentleman's  principle,  we  may  safely  trust  the  State  govern- 
ments, though  we  have  no  means  of  resisting  them ;  but  we 
cannot  confide  in  the  national  government,  though  we  have 
an  effectual  constitutional  guard  against  every  encroach- 
ment. This  is  the  essence  of  their  argument,  and  it  is  false 
and  fallacious  beyond  conception. 

With  regard  to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  two  governments, 
I  shall  certainly  admit  that  the  Constitution  ought  to  be  so 
formed  as  not  to  prevent  the  States  from  providing  for  their 
own  existence;  and  I  maintain  that  it  is  so  formed;  and  that 
their  power  of  providing  for  themselves  is  sufficiently  estab- 
lished. This  is  conceded  by  one  gentleman,  and  in  the  next 
breath  the  concession  is  retracted.  He  says  Congress  has 
but  one  exclusive  right  in  taxation — that  of  duties  on  im- 
ports; certainly,  then,  their  other  powers  are  only  concur- 
rent. But  to  take  off  the  force  of  this  obvious  conclusion, 
he  immediately  says  that  the  laws  of  the  United  States  are 
supreme  and  that  where  there  is  one  supreme  there  cannot 
be  a  concurrent  authority;  and  further,  that  where  the  laws 
of  the  Union  are  supreme,  those  of  the  States  must  be  sub- 
ordinate; because  there  cannot  be  two  supremes.  This  is 
curious  sophistry.  That  two  supreme  powers  cannot  act 
together  is  false.  They  are  inconsistent  only  when  they 
are  aimed  at  each  other  or  at  one  indivisible  object.     The 


10  ALEXANDER  HAMILTON 

laws  of  the  United  States  are  supreme,  as  to  all  their  proper, 
constitutional  objects ;  the  laws  of  the  States  are  supreme  in 
the  same  wav.  These  supreme  laws  may  act  on  different 
objects  without  clashing;  or  they  may  operate  on  different 
parts  of  the  same  common  object  with  perfect  harmony. 
Suppose  both  governments  should  lay  a  tax  of  a  penny  on 
a  certain  article ;  has  not  each  an  independent  and  uncon- 
trollable power  to  collect  its  own  tax  ?  The  meaning  of  the 
maxim,  there  cannot  be  two  supremes,  is  simply  this — two 
powers  cannot  be  supreme  over  each  other.  This  meaning 
is  entirely  perverted  by  the  gentlemen.  But,  it  is  said,  dis- 
putes between  collectors  are  to  be  referred  to  the  Federal 
courts.  This  is  again  wandering  in  the  field  of  conjecture. 
But  suppose  the  fact  is  certain,  is  it  not  to  be  presumed 
that  they  will  express  the  true  meaning  of  the  Constitution 
and  the  laws  ?  Will  they  not  be  bound  to  consider  the  con- 
current jurisdiction;  to  declare  that  both  the  taxes  shall 
have  equal  operation ;  that  both  the  powers,  in  that  respect, 
are  sovereign  and  co-extensive  ?  If  they  transgress  their 
duty,  we  are  to  hope  that  they  wull  be  punished.  Sir,  we 
can  reason  from  probabilities  alone.  When  we  leave 
common-sense,  and  give  ourselves  up  to  conjecture,  there 
can  be  no  certainty,  no  security  in  our  reasonings. 

I  imagine  I  have  stated  to  the  committee  abundant  rea- 
sons to  ])rove  the  entire  safety  of  the  State  governments 
and  of  the  people.  T  would  go  into  a  more  minute  con- 
sideration of  the  nature  of  the  concurrent  jurisdiction,  and 
the  operation  of  the  laws  in  relation  to  revenue ;  but  at 
present  I  feel  too  much  indisposed  to  proceed.  T  shall, 
with  leave  of  the  committee,  improve  another  opportunity 
of  expressing  to  them  more  fully  my  ideas  on  this  point.  I 
wish  the  committee  to  remember  that  the  Constitution  under 


THE  FEDERAL  CONSTITUTION  H 

examination  is  framed  upon  truly  republican  principles; 
and  that,  as  it  is  expressly  designed  to  provide  for  the 
common  protection  and  the  general  welfare  of  the  United 
States,  it  must  be  utterly  repugnant  to  this  Constitution  to 
subvert  the  State  governments  or  oppress  the  people. 


FISPIER  AMES 


JlSHEK  Amks,  American  statesman,  Federalist  rhetorician  and  writer, 
■was  born  at  Dedhani,  Mass.,  April  9,  1758,  and  died  there  July  4, 
1808.  After  jjraduating  from  Harvard  in  1774,  he  studied  and 
practiced  law  for  a  time,  but  abandoned  it  as  a  profession  to  pursue 
a  political  career.  At  an  early  age  he  was  enamored  of  the  orator's  art  and 
made  an  intimate  study  of  the  classics  and  of  the  finest  models  of  English 
oratory.  In  1788,  he  became  a  member  of  the  Massachusetts  legislature  and 
served  at  the  convention  for  ratifying  the  Constitution,  and  in  the  first  Federal 
("ongress  elected  after  the  Constitution  was  framed  he  served  for  eight  years 
(1788-97).  In  the  latter  especially  he  was  a  notable  figure,  his  commanding  elo- 
quence and  wisdom  in  counsel  being  of  high  service  to  the  young  nation.  A 
fine  example  of  his  oratorical  powers  is  appended  on  the  Jay  treaty  with  Britain 
after  its  ratification  (Aug.  18,  1795),  by  the  United  States,  and  when  the 
necessary  appropriations  for  carrying  it  into  effect  were  being  debated.  In  1804, 
Ames  was  called  to  the  presidency  of  his  alma  mattr,  but  declined  the  honor 
partly  on  the  score  of  failing  health.  His  death  occurred  four  years  later,  when 
only  m   his   fiftieth   year. 


ON   THE   BRITISH   TREATY 

HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES.  APRIL  28.  1706 

IT  WOULD  be  strange  that  a  subject,  whicb  has  aroused 
in  turn  all  the  passions  of  the  country,  should  be  dis- 
cussed without  the  interference  of  any  of  our  own. 
We  are  men,  and  therefore  not  exempt  from  those  pas- 
sions; as  citizens  and  Representatives,  we  feel  the  inter- 
ests that  must  excite  them.  The  hazard  of  great  interests 
cannot  fail  to  agitate  strong  passions.  We  are  not  disin- 
terested; it  is  impossible  we  should  be  dispassionate.  The 
warmth  of  such  feelings  may  becloud  the  judgment,  and, 
for  a  time,  pervert  the  understanding.  But  the  public  sen- 
(12) 


ON  THE  BRITISH  TREATY  13 

sibility,  and  our  own,  has  sharpened  the  spirit  of  inquiry, 
and  given  an  animation  to  the  debate.  The  public  atten- 
tion has  been  quickened  to  mark  the  progress  of  the  dis- 
cussion, and  its  judgment,  often  hasty  and  erroneous  on 
first  impressions,  has  become  solid  and  enlightened  at  last. 
Our  result  will,  I  hope,  on  that  account,  be  safer  and  more 
mature,  as  well  as  more  accordant  with  that  of  the  nation. 
The  only  constant  agents  in  political  affairs  are  the  pas- 
sions of  men.  Shall  we  complain  of  our  nature — shall  we 
say  that  man  ought  to  have  been  made  otherwise?  It  is 
right  already,  because  He,  from  whom  we  derive  our  na- 
ture, ordained  it  so ;  and  because  thus  made  and  thus  act- 
ing, the  cause  of  truth  and  the  public  good  is  more  surely 
promoted.    .    .    . 

The  treaty  is  bad,  fatally  bad,  is  the  cry.     It  sacrifices 
the   interest,   the   honor,   the   independence  of   the   United 
States,  and  the  faith  of  our  engagements  to  France.     If 
we  listen  to  the  clamor  of  party  intemperance,  the  evils 
are  of  a  number  not  to  be  coiuited,  and  of  a  nature  not  to 
be  borne,  even  in  idea.     The  language  of  passion  and  ex- 
aggeration may  silence  that  of  sober  reason  in  other  places, 
it  has  not  done  it  here.     The  question  here  is,  whether  the 
treaty  be  really  so  very  fatal  as  to  oblige  the  nation  to  break 
its  faith.     I  admit  that  such  a  treaty  ought  not  to  be  ex- 
ecuted.    I  admit  that  self-preservation  is  the  first  law  of 
society,  as  well  as  of  individuals.     It  would,  perhaps,  be 
deemed  an  abuse  of  terms  to  call  that  a  treaty  which  \'io- 
lates  such  a  principle.     1  waive  also,  for  the  present,  any 
inquiry,  what  departments  shall  represent  the  nation,  and 
annul  the  stipulations  of  a  treaty.     I  content  myself  with 
pursuing  the  inquiry,  whether  the  nature  of  this  compact 
be  such  as  to  justify  our  refusal  to  carr;^  it  into  effect.     A' 


14  FISHER    AMES 

treaty  is  the  promise  of  a  nation.  Now,  promises  do  not 
always  bind  him  that  makes  them.  But  I  lay  down  two 
rules,  which  ought  to  guide  us  in  this  case.  The  treaty 
must  appear  to  be  bad,  not  merely  in  the  petty  details, 
but  in  its  character,  principle,  and  mass.  And  in  the 
next  place,  this  ought  to  be  ascertained  by  the  decided 
and  general  concurrence  of  the  enlightened  public. 

I  confess  there  seems  to  be  something  very  like  ridi- 
cule thrown  over  the  debate  by  the  discussion  of  the  ar- 
ticles in  detail.  The  undecided  point  is,  shall  we  break 
our  faith?  And  while  our  country  and  enlightened  Eu- 
rope await  the  issue  with  more  than  curiosity,  we  are 
employed  to  gather  piecemeal,  and  article  by  article,  from 
the  instrument,  a  justification  for  the  deed  by  trivial  cal- 
culations of  commercial  profit  and  loss.  This  is  little 
worthy  of  the  subject,  of  this  body,  or  of  the  nation.  If 
the  treaty  is  bad,  it  will  appear  to  be  so  in  its  mass.  Evil 
to  a  fatal  extreme,  if  that  be  its  tendency,  requires  no  proof; 
it  brings  it.  Extremes  speak  for  themselves  and  make  their 
own  law.  What  if  the  direct  voyage  of  American  ships  to 
Jamaica  with  horses  or  lumber  might  net  one  or  two  jacr 
centum  more  than  the  present  trade  to  Surinam;  would  the 
proof  of  the  fact  avail  anything  in  so  grave  a  question  as 
the  violation  of  the  public  engagements  ?  .  .   . 

Why  do  they  complain  that  the  West  Indies  are  not  laid 
open  ?  Why  do  they  lament  that  any  restriction  is  stipu- 
lated on  the  commerce  of  the  East  Indies?  Why  do  they 
pretend  that  if  they  reject  this,  and  insist  upon  more,  more 
will  be  accomplished  ?  Let  us  be  explicit — more  would  not 
satisfy.  If  all  was  granted,  would  not  a  treaty  of  amity  with 
Great  Britain  still  be  obnoxious?  Have  we  not  this  instant 
heard  it  urged  against  our  envoy  that  he  was  not  ardent 


ON  THE  BRITISH  TREATY  15 

enough  in  his  hatred  of  Great  Britain?  A  treaty  of  amity 
is  condemned  because  it  was  not  made  by  a  foe,  and  in  the 
spirit  of  one.  The  same  gentleman,  at  the  same  instant,  re- 
peats a  very  prevailing  objection,  that  no  treaty  should  be 
made  with  the  enemy  of  France,  j^o  treaty,  exclaim  others, 
should  be  made  with  a  monarch  or  a  despot ;  there  mil  be 
no  naval  security  while  those  sea-robbers  domineer  on  the 
ocean ;  their  den  must  be  destroyed ;  that  nation  must  be 
extirpated. 

I  like  this,  sir,  because  it  is  sincerity.  With  feelings 
such  as  these  we  do  not  pant  for  treaties.  Such  passions 
seek  nothing,  and  will  be  content  with  nothing,  but  the  de- 
struction of  their  object.  If  a  treaty  left  King  George  his 
island,  it  would  not  answer ;  not  if  he  stipulated  to  pay  rent 
for  it.  It  has  been  said,  the  world  ought  to  rejoice  if  Britain 
was  sunk  in  the  sea ;  if  where  there  are  now  men  and  wealth 
and  laws  and  liberty,  there  was  no  more  than  a  sand  bank 
for  sea  monsters  to  fatten  on ;  a  space  for  the  storms  of  the 
ocean  to  mingle  in  conflict.  .  .  . 

What  is  patriotism?  Is  it  a  narrow  affection  for  the 
spot  where  a  man  w^as  bom?  Are  the  very  clods  where 
we  tread  entitled  to  this  ardent  preference  because  they 
are  greener?  ISTo,  sir,  this  is  not  the  character  of  the 
virtue,  and  it  soars  higher  for  its  object.  It  is  an  ex- 
tended self-love,  ingling  with  all  the  enjoyments  of  life, 
and  twisting;  itself  with  the  minutest  filaments  of  the  heart. 
It  is  thus  we  obey  the  laws  of  society,  because  they  are  the 
laws  of  virtue.  In  their  authority  we  see,  not  the  array  of 
force  and  terror,  but  the  venerable  image  of  our  country's 
honor.  Every  good  citizen  makes  that  honor  his  own,  and 
cherishes  it  not  only  as  precious,  but  as  sacred.  He  is  ^vill- 
ing  to  risk  his  life"  in  its  defence,  and  Is  conscious  that  he 


16  FISHER    AMES 

gains  protection  while  he  gives  it.  For,  what  rights  of  a 
citizen  will  be  deemed  inviolable  when  a  State  renounces 
the  principles  that  constitute  their  security?  Or  if  his 
life  should  not  be  invaded,  what  would  its  enjoyments  be 
in  a  country  odious  in  the  eyes  of  strangers  and  dishonored 
in  his  own  ?  Could  he  look  with  affection  and  veneration 
to  such  a  country  as  his  parent?  The  sense  of  having  one 
would  die  within  him;  he  would  blush  for  his  patriotism, 
if  he  retained  any,  and  justly,  for  it  would  be  a  vice.  He 
would  be  a  banished  man  in  his  native  land.  I  see  no  ex- 
ception to  the  respect  that  is  paid  among  nations  to  the  law 
of  good  faith.  If  there  are  cases  in  this  enlightened  period 
when  it  is  violated,  there  are  none  when  it  is  decried.  It  is 
the  philosophy  of  politics,  the  religion  of  governments.  It 
is  observed  by  barbarians — a  whiff  of  tobacco  smoke,  or  a 
string  of  beads,  gives  not  merely  binding  force  but  sanctity 
to  treaties.  Even  in  Algiers  a  truce  may  be  bought  for 
money,  but  when  ratified  even  Algiers  is  too  wise,  or  too 
just,  to  disown  and  annul  its  obligation.  Thus  we  see, 
neither  the  ignorance  of  savages,  nor  the  principles  of  an 
association  for  piracy  and  rapine,  permit  a  nation  to  despise 
its  engagements.  If,  sir,  there  could  be  a  resurrection  from 
the  foot  of  the  gallows,  if  the  victims  of  justice  could  live 
again,  collect  together  and  form  a  society,  they  would,  how- 
ever loth,  soon  find  themselves  obliged  to  make  justice, 
that  justice  under  which  they  fell,  the  fundamental  law  of 
their  State.  They  would  perceive  it  was  their  interest  to 
make  others  respect,  and  they  would  therefore  soon  pay 
some  respect  themselves  to  the  obligations  of  good  faith. 
It  is  painful,  I  hope  it  is  superfluous,  to  make  even  the 
supposition,  that  America  should  furnish  the  occasion  of 
this  opprobrium.      No,    let   me    not   even   imagine,   that   fl. 


ON  THE  BRITISH  TREATY  17 

repubKcan  government,  sprung,  as  our  own  is,  from  a 
people  enlightened  and  uncorrupted,  a  government  whose 
origin  is  right,  and  whose  daily  discipline  is  duty,  can, 
upon  solemn  debate,  make  its  option  to  be  faithless — can 
dare  to  act  what  despots  dare  not  avow,  what  our  own 
example  evinces,  the  States  of  Barbary  are  unsuspected 
of.  ]^o,  let  me  rather  make  the  supposition,  that  Great 
Britain  refuses  to  execute  the  treaty,  after  we  have  done 
everything  to  carry  it  into  effect.  Is  there  an}',  language 
of  reproach  pungent  enough  to  express  your  commentary 
of  the  fact?  What  would  you  say,  or  rather  what  could 
you  not  say?  Would  you  not  tell  them,  wherever  an 
Englishman  might  travel,  shame  would  stick  to  him — he 
would  disowm  his  country.  You  would  exclaim,  England, 
proud  of  your  wealth,  and  arrogant  in  the  possession  of 
power — blush  for  these  distinctions,  which  become  the 
vehicles  of  vour  dishonor.  Such  a  nation  might  trulv 
say  to  corruption,  thou  art  my  father,  and  to  the  worm, 
thou  art  vaj^  mother  and  my  sister.  We  would  say  of 
such  a  race  of  men,  their  name  is  a  heavier  burden  than 
their  debt.    .    .    . 

The  refusal  of  the  posts  (inevitable  if  we  reject  the 
treaty)  is  a  measure  too  decisive  in  its  nature  to  be  neu- 
tral in  its  consequences.  From  great  causes  we  are  to 
look  for  great  effects.  A  plain  and  obvious  one  will  be, 
the  price  of  the  Western  lands  will  fall.  Settlers  will  not 
choose  to  fix  their  habitation  on  a  field  of  battle.  Those 
who  talk  so  much  of  the  interests  of  the  United  States, 
should  calculate  how  deeply  it  will  be  affected  by  reject- 
ing the  treaty;  how  vast  a  tract  of  wild  land  mil  almost 
cease  to  be  property.  This  loss,  let  it  be  observed,  will 
fall  upon  a  fund  expressly  devoted  to   sink  the   national 

Vol.  4-2 


18  FISHER    AMES 

debt.  What,  then,  are  we  called  upon  to  do  ?  However 
the  form  of  the  vote  and  the  protestations  of  many  may 
disguise  the  proceeding,  our  resolution  is  in  substance 
and  it  deserves  to  wear  the  title  of  a  resohition  to  pre- 
vent the  sale  of  the  Western  lands  and  the  discharge  of 
the  public  debt. 

Will  the  tendency  to  Indian  hostilities  be  contested  by 
any  one?  Experience  gives  the  answer.  The  frontiers 
were  scourged  with  war  till  the  negotiation  with  Great 
Britain  was  far  advanced,  and  then  the  state  of  hostility 
ceased.  Perhaps  the  public  agents  of  both  nations  are  in- 
nocent of  fomenting  the  Indian  war,  and  perhaps  they  are 
not.  We  ought  not,  however,  to  expect  that  neighboring 
nations,  highly  irritated  against  each  other,  will  neglect  the 
friendship  of  the  savages;  the  traders  will  gain  an  influence 
and  \\dll  abuse  it ;  and  who  is  ignorant  that  their  passions 
are  easily  raised,  and  hardly  restrained  from  violence  ? 
Their  situation  \\dll  oblige  them  to  choose  between  this 
country  and  Great  Britain,  in  case  the  treaty  should  be 
rejected.  They  vrill  not  be  our  friends  and  at  the  same 
time  the  friends  of  our  enemies. 

But  am  I  reduced  to  the  necessity  of  proving  this  point? 
Certainly  the  very  men  who  charged  the  Indian  Avar  on  the 
detention  of  the  posts,  will  call  for  no  other  proof  than  the 
recital  of  their  own.  speeches.  It  is  remembered  with  what 
emphasis,  with  what  acrimony^  they  expatiated  on  the  bur- 
den of  taxes,  and  the  drain  of  blood  and  treasure  into  the 
Western  country,  in  consequence  of  Britain's  holding 
the  posts.  Until  the  posts  are  restored,  they  exclaimed, 
the  treasury  and  the  frontiers  must  bleed. 

If  any,  against  all  these  proofs,  should  maintain  that 
the    peace    with    the   Indians   will   be    stable    without   the 


ON    THE    BRITISH    TREATY  19 

posts,  to  them  I  urge  another  reply.  From  arguments 
calculated  to  produce  conviction,  I  will  appeal  directly 
to  the  hearts  of  those  who  hear  me,  and  ask,  whether  it 
is  not  already  planted  there?  I  resort  especially  to  the 
convictions  of  the  Western  gentlemen,  whether,  suppos- 
ing no  posts  and  no  treaty,  the  settlers  will  remain  in 
security  ?  Can  they  take  it  upon  them  to  say,  that  an 
Indian  peace,  under  these  circumstances,  will  prove  firm? 
No,  sir,  it  will  not  be  peace,  but  a  sword;  it  will  be  no 
better  than  a  lure  to  draw  victims  within  the  reach  of  the 
tomahawk. 

On  this  theme  my  emotions  are  unutterable.  If  I  could 
find  words  for  them,  if  my  powers  bore  any  proportion  to 
my  zeal,  I  would  swell  my  voice  to  such  a  note  of  remon- 
strance, it  should  reach  every  log-house  beyond  the  moun- 
tains. I  would  say  to  the  inhabitants,  wake  from  your  false 
security;  your  cruel  dangers,  year  more  cruel  apprehensions 
are  soon  to  be  renewed;  the  wounds,  yet  unhealed,  are  to 
be  torn  open  again;  in  the  daytime  your  path  through  the 
woods  will  be  ambushed;  the  darkness  of  midnight  will  glit- 
ter with  the  blaze  of  your  dwellings.  You  are  a  father — 
the  blood  of  your  sons  shall  fatten  your  cornfield;  you 
are  a  mother — the  war-whoop  shall  wake  the  sleep  of  the 
cradle. 

On  this  subject  you  need  not  suspect  any  deception  on 
your  feelings.  It  is  a  spectacle  of  horror,  which  cannot  be 
overdrawn.  If  you  have  nature  in  your  hearts,  it  will  speak 
a  language  compared  with  which  all  I  have  said  or  can  say 
will  be  poor  and  frigid. 

"Will  it  be  whispered  that  the  treaty  has  made  me  a  new 
champion  for  the  protection  of  the  frontiers  ?  It  is  known 
that  my  voice  as  well  as  vote  have  been  uniformly  given  in 


20  FISHEK    AMES 

conformity  with  the  ideas  I  have  expressed.  Protection  ig 
the  right  of  the  frontiers;  it  is  our  duty  to  give  it. 

Who  will  accuse  me  of  wandering  out  of  the  subject? 
Who  will  say  that  I  exaggerate  the  tendencies  of  our  meas- 
ures? Will  any  one  answer  by  a  sneer,  that  all  this  is  idle 
preaching?  Will  any  one  deny,  that  we  are  bound,  and  I 
would  hope  to  good  purpose,  by  the  most  solemn  sanctions 
of  duty  for  the  vote  we  give?  Are  despots  alone  to  be  re- 
proached for  unfeeling  indifference  to  the  tears  and  blood 
of  their  subjects?  Have  the  principles  on  which  you 
ground  the  reproach  upon  cabinets  and  kings  no  practical 
influence,  no  binding  force?  Are  they  merely  themes  of 
idle  declamation  introduced  to  decorate  the  morality  of  a 
newspaper  essay,  or  to  furnish  petty  topics  of  harangue 
from  the  windows  of  that  State  House?  1  trust  it  is  neither 
too  presumptuous  nor  too  late  to  ask.  Can  you  put  the 
dearest  interest  of  society  at  risk  without  guilt  and  without 
remorse  ? 

It  is  vain  to  offer  as  an  excuse,  that  public  men  are  not 
to  be  reproached  for  the  evils  that  may  happen  to  ensue 
from  their  measures.  This  is  very  true  where  they  are 
unforeseen  or  inevitable.  Those  I  have  depicted  are  not 
unforeseen;  they  are  so  far  from  inevitable,  we  are  going 
to  bring  them  into  being  by  our  vote.  We  choose  the  con- 
sequences, and  become  as  justly  answerable  for  them  as  for 
the  measures  that  we  know  will  produce  them. 

By  rejecting  the  posts  we  light  the  savage  fires — we  bind 
the  victims.  This  day  we  undertake  to  render  account  to 
the  widows  and  orphans  whom  our  decision  will  make, 
to  the  wretches  that  will  be  roasted  at  the  stake,  to  our 
country,  and  I  do  not  deem  it  too  serious  to  say,  to  con- 
science and  to  God.     We  are  answerable,  and  if  duty  be 


ON    THE    BRITISH    TREATY  21 

anything  more  than  a  word  of  imposture,  if  conscience  be 
not  a  bugbear,  we  are  preparing  to  make  ourselves  as 
wretched  as  our  country. 

There  is  no  mistake  in  this  case — there  can  be  none. 
Experience  has  already  been  the  prophet  of  events,  and 
the  cries  of  future  victims  have  already  reached  us.  The 
Western  inhabitants  are  not  a  silent  and  uncomplaining 
sacrifice.  The  voice  of  humanity  issues  from  the  shade  of 
their  wilderness.  It  exclaims  that,  while  one  hand  is  held 
up  to  reject  this  treaty,  the  other  grasps  a  tomahawk.  It 
summons  our  imagination  to  the  scenes  that  will  open. 
It  is  no  great  effort  of  the  imagination  to  conceive  that 
events  so  near  are  already  begun.  I  can  fancy  that  I  listen 
to  the  yells  of  savage  vengeance,  and  the  shrieks  of  torture. 
Already  they  seem  to  sigh  in  the  west  wind— already  they 
mingle  with  every  echo  from  the  mountains. 

It  is  not  the  part  of  prudence  to  be  inattentive  to  the 
tendencies  of  measures.  Where  there  is  any  ground  to  fear 
that  these  will  prove  pernicious,  wisdom  and  duty  forbid 
that  we  should  underrate  them.  If  we  reject  the  treaty,  will 
our  peace  be  as  safe  as  if  we  executed  it  with  good  faith  ? 
I  do  honor  to  the  intrepid  spirits  of  those  who  say  it 
will.  It  was  formerly  understood  to  constitute  the  ex- 
cellence of  a  man's  faith  to  believe  without  evidence  and 
against  it. 

But,  as  opinions  on  this  article  are  changed,  and  we  are 
called  to  act  for  our  country,  it  becomes  us  to  explore  the 
dangers  that  will  attend  its  peace,  and  to  avoid  them  if  we 
can.   .  .  . 

Is  there  anything  in  the  prospect  of  the  interior  state  of 
the  country  to  encourage  us  to  aggravate  the  dangers  of  a 
war?     Would  not  the  shock  of  that  evil  produce  another, 


22  FISHER   AMES 

and  shake  down  the  feeble  and  then  unbraced  structure  of 
our  government?  Is  this  a  chnnera?  Is  it  going  off  the 
ground  of  matter-of-fact  to  say,  the  rejection  of  the  appro- 
priation proceeds  upon  the  doctrine  of  a  civil  war  of  the 
departments?  Two  branches  have  ratified  a  treaty,  and 
we  are  going  to  set  it  aside.  How  is  this  disorder  in  the 
machine  to  be  rectified?  While  it  exists  7ts  movements 
must  stop,  iaid  when  we  talk  of  a  remedy,  is  that  any  other 
than  the  formidable  one  of  a  revolutionary  one  of  the  peo- 
ple ?  And  is  this,  in  the  judgment  even  of  my  opposers,  to 
execute,  to  preserve  the  Constitution  and  the  public  order? 
Is  this  the  state  of  hazard,  if  not  of  convulsion,  which  they 
can  have  the  courage  to  contemplate  and  to  brave,  or  be- 
yond which  their  penetration  can  reach  and  see  the  issue  ? 
They  seem  to  believe,  and  they  act  as  if  they  believed,  that 
our  union,  our  peace,  our  liberty,  are  invulnerable  and  im- 
mortal— as  if  our  happy  state  was  not  to  be  disturbed  by 
our  dissensions,  and  that  we  are  not  capable  of  falling  from 
it  by  our  unworthiness.  Some  of  them  have,  no  doubt, 
better  nerves  and  better  discernment  than  mine.  They  can 
see  the  bright  aspects  and  the  happy  consequences  of  all 
this  array  of  horrors.  They  can  see  intestine  discords,  our 
government  disorganized,  our  wrongs  aggravated,  multi- 
plied, and  unredressed,  peace  with  dishonor,  or  war  ^vith- 
out  justice,  union,  or  resources,  in  "the  calm  lights  of  mild 
philosophy." 

But  whatever  they  may  anticipate  as  the  next  measure 
of  prudence  and  safety,  they  have  explained  nothing  to  the 
House.  After  rejecting  the  treaty,  what  is  to  be  the  next 
step  ?  They  must  have  foreseen  what  ought  to  be  done ; 
they  have  doubtless  resolved  what  to  propose.  Why  then 
are  they  silent  ?     Dare  they  not  avow  their  plan  of  conduct, 


0?r    THE    BRITISH    TREATY  23 

or  do  they  wait  till  our  progress  toward  confusion  shall 
guide  them  in  forming  it  ? 

Let  me  cheer  the  mind,  weary,  no  doubt,  and  ready  to 
despond  on  this  prospect,  by  presenting  another,  which  it  is 
yet  in  our  power  to  realize.  Is  it  possible  for  a  real  Ameri- 
can to  look  at  the  prosperity  of  this  country  without  some 
desire  for  its  continuance — without  some  respect  for  the 
measures  which,  many  will  say,  produced,  and  all  will 
confess,  have  preserved,  it?  Will  he  not  feel  some  dread 
that  a  change  of  system  will  reverse  the  scene  ?  The  well- 
grounded  fears  of  our  citizens  iu  1794  were  removed  by  the 
treaty,  but  are  not  forgotten.  Then  they  deemed  war  nearly 
inevitable,  and  would  not  this  adjustment  have  been  con- 
sidered, at  that  day,  as  a  happy  escape  from  the  calamity  ? 
The  great  interest  and  the  general  desire  of  oar  people  was 
to  enjoy  the  advantages  of  neutrality.  This  instrument, 
however  misrepresented,  affords  America  that  inestimable 
security.  The  causes  of  our  disputes  are  either  cut  up  by 
the  roots,  or  referred  to  a  new  negotiation  after  the  end  of 
the  European  war.  This  was  gaining  everything,  because  it 
confirmed  our  neutrality,  by  which  our  citizens  are  gaining 
everything.  This  alone  would  justify  the  engagements  of 
the  government.  For,  when  the  fiery  vapors  of  the  war 
lowered  in  the  skirts  of  our  horizon,  all  our  wishes  were 
concentrated  in  this  one,  that  we  might  escape  the  desola- 
tion of  the  storm.  This  treaty,  like  a  rainbow  on  the  edge 
of  the  cloud,  marked  to  our  eyes  the  space  where  it  was 
raging,  and  afforded,  at  the  same  time,  the  sure  prognostic 
of  fair  weather.  If  we  reject  it,  the  vivid  colors  will  grow 
pale — it  will  be  a  baleful  meteor  portending  tempest  and 
war. 

Let  us  not  hesitate,  then,  to  agree  to  the  appropriation 


24  FISHER    AMES 

to  carry  it  into  faithful  execution.  Thus  we  shall  save  the 
faith  of  our  nation,  secure  its  peace,  and  diffuse  the  spirit  of 
confidence  and  enterprise  that  will  augment  its  prosperity. 
The  progress  of  wealth  and  improvement  is  wonderful,  and, 
some  will  think,  too  rapid.  The  field  for  exertion  is  fruit- 
ful and  vast,  and  if  peace  and  good  government  should  be 
preserved,  the  acquisitions  of  our  citizens  are  not  so  pleasing 
as  the  proofs  of  their  industry — as  the  instruments  of  their 
future  success.  The  rewards  of  exertion  go  to  augment  its 
power.  Profit  is  every  hour  becoming  capital.  The  vast 
crop  of  our  neutrality  is  all  seed- wheat,  and  is  sown  again 
to  swell,  almost  bej^ond  calculation,  the  future  harvest  of 
prosperity.  And  in  this  progress,  what  seems  to  be  fiction 
is  found  to  fall  short  of  experience. 

I  rose  to  speak  under  impressions  that  I  would  have 
resisted  if  I  could.  Those  who  see  me  will  believe  that 
the  reduced  state  of  my  health  has  unfitted  me  almost 
equally  for  much  exertion  of  body  or  mind.  Unprepared 
for  debate,  by  careful  reflection  in  rny  retirement,  or  by 
long  attention  here,  I  thought  the  resolution  I  had  taken  to 
sit  silent,  was  imposed  by  necessity,  and  would  cost  me  no 
effort  to  maintain.  With  a  mind  thus  vacant  of  ideas,  and 
sinking,  as  I  really  am,  under  a  sense  of  weakness,  I  im- 
agined the  very  desire  of  speaking  was  extinguished  by  the 
persuasion  that  I  had  nothing  to  say.  Yet,  when  I  come  to 
the  moment  of  deciding  the  vote,  I  start  back  with  dread 
from  the  edge  of  the  pit  into  which  we  are  plunging.  In 
my  view,  even  the  minutes  I  have  spent  in  expostulation 
have  their  value,  because  they  protract  the  crisis,  and  the 
short  period  in  which  alone  we  may  resolve  to  escape  it. 

I  have  thus  been  led,  by  my  feelings,  to  speak  more  at 
length  than   I  intended.     Yet  I   have,    perhaps,   as  littl© 


ON  THE  BRITISH  TRExVTY  25 

personal  interest  in  the  event  as  any  one  here.  There  is, 
I  believe,  no  member  who  will  not  think  his  chance  to  be 
a  witness  of  the  consequences  greater  than  mine.  If,  how- 
ever, the  vote  shall  pass  to  reject,  and  a  spirit  should  rise, 
as  it  will,  with  the  public  disorders,  to  make  confusion 
worse  confounded,  even  I,  slender  and  almost  broken  as  my 
hold  upon  life  is,  may  outlive  the  government  and  Constitu- 
tion of  my  country. 


JAMES    MONROE 


?AMEs  Monroe,  fifth  President  of  the  United  States  (1817-25)  and  famous 
as  the  promulgator  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine,  was  born  of  a  Scottish 
Cavalier  family  in  Westmoreland  Co.,  Va.,  April  28,  1758,  and  died 
at  New  York,  July  4,  1831.  Early  he  became  a  student  at  William 
and  Mary  College,  Va.,  and  served  with  distinction  for  a  while  in  the  Revolutionary 
War  and  was  wounded  at  Trenton,  studying  law  intermittently  under  the  direction 
of  Jefferson,  and  becoming  a  member  of  the  legislature  of  his  native  State.  From 
1783  to  1786  he  was  a  delegate  in  Congress,  where  he  was  instrumental  in  bring- 
ing about  the  conventions  at  Annapolis  and  Philadelphia,  which  resulted  in  the 
framing  of  the  United  States  Constitution,  though  he  opposed  the  adoption  of 
that  instrument,  and  during  the  years  1790-94,  as  United  States  Senator,  allied 
himself  with  the  anti- Federalist  party  and  the  advocates  of  State's  Rights.  In 
1794,  he  became  minister  to  France,  but  was  recalled  within  two  years  owing  to 
his  sympathy  with  the  French  Revolution.  This  brought  out  an  attack  upon  the 
government,  which  gave  pleasure  to  the  Democratic  party,  while  attempting  to 
justify  his  diplomatic  action  in  France.  For  three  years  (1799-1802),  he  was  gov- 
ernor of  Virginia,  after  which  he  was  appointed  by  Jefferson  envoy  extraordinary 
to  France,  where  he  cooperated  with  Morris  and  Livingston  in  effecting  the  pur- 
chase of  Louisiana,  and  from  1803  to  1807  was  United  States  Minister  to  Great 
Britain,  undertaking  at  the  same  time  a  special  mission  to  Madrid.  His  diplo- 
matic course  abroad  was,  however,  not  agreeable  to  the  home  government,  and  on 
his  return  he  once  more  found  it  expedient  to  publish  a  defence  of  his  acts.  In 
1810,  he  found  solace  for  a  time  in  the  legislature  of  his  own  State,  and  in  the 
office  of  Governor  of  Virginia,  to  which  post  he  was  again  elected.  In  Madi- 
son's adniinistration  he  became  Secretary  of  State,  acting  also  for  a  brief 
period  as  Secretary  of  War,  when  he  was  elevated  to  the  Presidency  of  the  United 
States  in  1816  and  reelected  for  another  term  in  1820.  During  his  period  of  office 
he  formulated,  in  an  annual  message  to  Congress,  the  famous  Monroe  Doctrine,  oppos- 
ing interference  by  European  Powers  in  the  affairs  of  the  States  on  the  American 
continent,  on  pain  of  the  act  being  deemed  one  of  hostility  and  antagonism  to 
the  United  States.  Jefferson  had  declared  that  one  of  the  maxims  of  American 
policy  was  "  never  to  suffer  Europe  to  meddle  with  cis-Atlantic  affairs."  Practically, 
this  was  the  keynote  of  President  Monroe's  utterance  on  this  subject,  an  utterance 
more  specially  directed  at  the  time  at  Russia,  which  country  is  told  that  "  the  Ameri- 
can continents,  by  the  free  and  independent  condition  which  they  have  assumed 
and  maintained,  are  henceforth  not  to  be  considered  as  subjects  for  future  colonization 
liy  any  European  powers."  lie  further  and  emphatically  explained  his  attitude  by 
adding  this  clause:  "With  the  governments  who  have  declared  their  independence 
and  maintained  it,  .  .  .  we  could  not  view  any  interposition  for  the  purpose  of 
(26) 


FEDERAL    EXPEEIMENTS    IN    HISTORY  27 

oppressing  them,  or  controlling  iu  any  other  manner,  their  destiny,  by  any  European 
power,  in  any  other  light  than  as  a  manifestation  of  an  unfriendly  disposition  toward 
the  United  States."  The  protest  was  happily  effectual.  Monroe's  administration 
was  also  notable  for  what  was  then  deemed  "the  era  of  good  feeling,"  and  ong 
that  brought  about  the  acquisition  of  Florida  from  Spain  (1819),  and  the  agree- 
ment with  Missouri  for  its  admission  into  the  Union,  barred  only  by  the  com- 
promise which  forbade  the  extension  of  slavery  in  that  State.  See  "Life  and 
Public  Services  of  Monroe,"  by  D.  C.  Gilman,  in  American  Statesman  Series  (1883). 


FEDERAL   EXPERIMENTS    IN    HISTORY 

VIRGINIA  CONSTITUTIONAL  CONVENTION,  JUNE  lo.   1788 
Mr.  Chairman:  * 

1  CANNOT  avoid  expressing  the  great  anxiety  which  I 
feel  upon  the  present  occasion — an  anxiety  that  pro- 
ceeds not  only  from  a  high  sense  of  the  importance  of 
the  subject,  but  from  a  profound  respect  for  this  august 
and  venerable  assembly.  When  we  contemplate  the  fate 
that  has  befallen  other  nations,  whether  we  cast  our  eyes 
back  into  the  remotest  ages  of  antiquity,  or  derive  instruc- 
tion from  those  examples  which  modern  times  have  pre 
sented  to  our  view,  and  observe  how  prone  all  human  in- 
stitutions have  been  to  decay ;  how  subject  the  best  formed 
and  most  wisely  organized  governments  have  been  to  lose 
their  checks  and  totally  dissolve;  how  difficult  it  has  been 
for  mankind,  in  all  ages  and  countries,  to  preserve  their 
dearest  rights  and  best  privileges,  impelled,  as  it  were,  by 
an  irresistible  fate  of  despotism— if  we  look  forward  to 
those  prospects  that  sooner  or  later  await  our  country, 
unless  we  shall  be  exempted  from  the  fate  of  other  na- 
tions, even  upon  a  mind  the  most  sanguine  and  benevo- 
lent, some  gloomy  apprehensions  must  necessarily  crowd. 
This  consideration  is  sufficient  to  teach  us  the  limited 
capacity    of    the    human    mind — how    subject    the    wisest 


28  JAMES  MONROE 

men  have  been  to  error.  For  my  owr.  part,  sir,  I  come 
forward  here,  not  as  the  partisan  of  this  or  that  side  of 
the  question,  but  to  commend  where  the  subject  appears 
to  me  to  deserve  commendation ;  to  suggest  my  doubts 
where  I  have  any ;  and  to  hear  with  candor  the  explana- 
tion of  others;  and,  in  the  ultimate  result,  to  act  as  shall 
appear  for  the  best  advantage  of  our  common  country. 

The  American  States  exhibit  at  present  a  new  and  inter- 
esting spectacle  to  the  eyes  of  mankind.  Modern  Europe, 
for  more  than  twelve  centuries  past,  has  presented  to  view 
one  of  a  very  diiferent  kind.  In  all  the  nations  of  that 
([uarter  of  the  globe,  there  has  been  a  constant  effort,  on 
the  part  of  the  people,  to  extricate  themselves  from  the 
oppression  of  their  rulers ;  but  with  us  the  object  is  of  a 
very  different  nature :  to  establish  the  dominion  of  law 
over  licentiousness;  to  increase  the  powers  of  the  national 
government  to  such  extent,  and  organize  it  in  such  man- 
ner, as  to  enable  it  to  discharge  its  duties  and  manage  the 
affairs  of  the  States  to  the  best  advantage.  There  are  two 
circumstances  remarkable  in  our  colonial  settlement:  first, 
the  exclusive  monopoly  of  our  trade ;  second,  that  it  was 
settled  by  the  Commons  of  England  only.  The  revolu- 
tion, in  having  emancipated  us  from  the  shackles  of  Great 
Britain,  has  put  the  entire  government  in  the  hands  of  one 
order  of  people  only — freemen ;  not  of  nobles  and  freemen. 
This  is  a  peculiar  trait  in  the  character  of  this  revolution. 
That  this  sacred  deposit  may  be  always  retained  there,  is 
my  most  earnest  wish  and  fervent  prayer.  That  union  is 
the  first  object  for  the  security  of  our  political  happiness, 
in  the  hands  of  gracious  Providence,  is  well  understood 
and  universally  admitted  through  all  the  United  States. 
From  i^ew  Hampshire  to  Georgia  (Rhode  Island  excepted), 


FEDEKAL    EXPERIMENTS    IN    HISTORY  29 

the  people  have  uniformly  manifested  a  strong  attachment 
to  the  Union.  This  attachment  has  resulted  from  a  persua- 
sion of  its  utility  and  necessity.  In  short,  this  is  a  point  so 
well  known  that  it  is  needless  to  trespass  on  your  patience 
any  longer  about  it.  A  recurrence  has  been  had  to  history. 
Ancient  and  modern  leagues  have  been  mentioned,  to  make 
impressions.  Will  they  admit  of  any  analogy  with  our  situ- 
ation ?  The  same  principles  will  produce  the  same  effects. 
Permit  me  to  take  a  review  of  those  leagues  which  the  hon- 
orable gentleman  has  mentioned;  which  are,  first,  the  Am- 
phictyonic  Council;  second,  the  Achaean  League;  third, 
the  Germanic  system;  fourth,  the  Swiss  cantons;  fifth,  the 
United  Netherlands;  and,  sixth,  the  New  England  confed- 
eracy. Before  I  develop  the  principles  of  these  leagues, 
permit  me  to  speak  of  what  must  influence  the  happiness 
and  duration  of  leagues.  These  principles  depend  on  the 
following  circumstances:  first,  the  happy  construction  of 
the  government  of  the  members  of  the  union;  second,  the 
security  from  foreign  danger.  For  instance,  monarchies 
united  would  separate  soon;  aristocracies  would  preserve 
their  union  longer;  but  democracies,  unless  separated  by 
some  extraordinary  circumstance,  would  last  forever.  The 
causes  of  half  the  wars  that  have  thinned  the  ranks  of  man- 
kind, and  depopulated  nations,  are  caprice,  folly,  and  am- 
bition; these  belong  to  the  higher  orders  of  governments, 
where  the  passions  of  one,  or  of  a  few  individuals,  direct 
the  fate  of  the  rest  of  the  community.  But  it  is  otherwise 
with  democracies,  where  there  is  an  equality  among  the 
citizens,  and  a  foreign  and  powerful  enemy,  especially  a 
monarch,  may  crush  weaker  neighbors.  Let  us  see  how 
far  these  positions  are  supported  by  the  history  of  these 
leagues,  and   how   far  they  apply  to  us.     The  Amphicty- 


30  JAMES  MOXROE 

onic  Council  consisted  of  three  members — Sparta,  Thebes, 
and  Athens.  What  was  the  construction  of  these  States? 
Sparta  was  a  monarchy  more  analogous  to  the  Constitu- 
tion of  England  than  any  I  have  heard  of  in  modern  times. 
Thebes  was  a  democracy,  but  on  different  principles  from 
modern  democracies.  Representation  was  not  known  then. 
This  is  the  acquirement  of  modern  times.  Athens,  like 
Thebes,  was  generally  democratic,  but  sometimes  changed. 
In  these  two  States  the  people  transacted  their  business  in 
person ;  consequently,  they  could  not  be  of  any  great  ex- 
tent. There  was  a  perpetual  variance  between  the  mem- 
bers of  this  confederacv,  and  its  ultimate  dissolution  was 
attributed  to  this  defect.  The  weakest  were  obliged  to 
call  for  foreign  aid,  and  this  precipitated  the  ruin  of  this 
confederacy.  The  Achaean  League  had  more  analogy  to 
ours,  and  gives  me  great  hopes  that  the  apprehensions  of 
gentlemen  with  respect  to  our  confederacy  are  groundless. 
They  were  all  democratic,  and  firmly  united.  AVhat  was 
the  effect  ?  The  most  perfect  harmony  and  friendship 
subsisted  among  them,  and  they  were  very  active  in 
guarding  their  liberties.  The  history  of  that  confed- 
eracy does  not  present  us  mth  those  confusions  and 
internal  convulsions  which  gentlemen  ascribe  to  all  gov- 
ernments of  a  confederate  kind.  The  most  respectable 
historians  prove  this  confederacy  to  have  been  exempt 
from  these  defects.  .  .  .  This  league  was  founded  on 
democratical  principles,  and,  from  the  wisdom  of  its  struc- 
ture, continued  a  far  greater  length  of  time  than  any  other. 
Its  members,  like  our  States,  by  their  confederation,  re- 
tained their  individual  sovereignty  and  enjoyed  perfect 
equality.  What  destroyed  it?  iSTot  internal  dissensions. 
They   were  surrounded   by  great  and   powerful    nations — 


FEDERAL    EXPERIMENTS    IN    HISTORY  31 

the  Lacedsemonians,  Macedonians,  and  ^tolians.  The 
JEtolians  and  Lacedaemonians  making  war  on  them,  the-f 
solicited  the  assistance  of  Macedon,  who  no  sooner  granted 
it  than  she  became  their  possessor.  To  free  themselves 
from  the  tyranny  of  the  Macedonians,  they  prayed  succor 
from  tlie  Romans,  who,  after  relieving  them  from  their  op- 
pressors, soon  totally  enslaved  them. 

The  Germanic  body  is  a  league  of  independent  princi- 
palities. It  has  no  analogy  to  our  system.  It  is  very  inju- 
diciously organized.  Its  members  are  kept  together  by  the 
fear  of  danger  from  one  another,  and  from  foreign  powers, 
and  by  the  influence  of  the  emperor. 

The  Swiss  cantons  have  been  instanced,  also,  as  a  proof 
of  the  natural  imbecility  of  federal  governments.  Their 
league  has  sustained  a  variety  of  changes;  and,  notwith- 
standing the  many  causes  that  tend  to  disunite  them,  they 
still  stand  firm.  We  have  not  the  same  causes  of  disunion 
or  internal  variance  that  they  have  The  individual  cantons 
composing  the  league  are  chiefly  aristocratic^  What  an  op- 
portunity does  this  offer  to  foreign  powers  to  disturb  them 
by  bribing  and  corrupting  their  aristocrats!  It  is  well 
known  that  their  services  have  been  frequently  purchased 
by  foreign  nations.  Their  difference  of  religion  has  been  a 
source  of  divisions  and  animosity  among  them,  and  tended 
to  disunite  them.  This  tendency  has  been  considerably 
increased  by  the  interference  of  foreign  nations,  the  con- 
tiguity of  their  position  to  those  nations  rendering  such 
interference  easy.  They  have  been  kept  together  by  the 
fear  of  those  nations,  and  the  nature  of  their  association, 
the  leading  features  of  which  are  a  principle  of  equality 
between  the  cantons,  and  the  retention  of  individual  sover 
eignty.     The  same  reasoning  applies  nearly  to  the  United 


32  JAMES    MONKOK 

Netherlands.      The    other  confederacy   which    has    been    men- 
tioned has  no  kind  of  analogy  to  our  situation. 

From  a  review  of  these  leagues,  we  find  the  causes  of  the 
misfortunes  of  those  which  have  been  dissolved  to  have 
been  a  dissimilarity  of  structure  in  the  individual  members, 
the  facility  of  foreign  interference,  and  recurrence  to  foreign 
aid.  After  this  review  of  those  leagues,  if  we  consider  our 
comparative  situation,  we  shall  find  that  nothing  can  be 
adduced  from  any  of  them  to  warrant  a  departure  from  a 
confederacy  to  a  consolidation,  on  the  principle  of  inefficacy 
in  the  former  to  secure  our  happiness.  The  causes  which, 
with  other  nations,  rendered  leagues  ineffectual  and  inade- 
quate to  the  security  and  happiness  of  the  people,  do  not 
exist  here.  What  is  the  form  of  our  State  governments  ? 
They  are  all  similar  in  their  structure  —  perfectly  democratic. 
The  freedom  of  mankind  has  found  an  asylum  here  which  it 
could  find  nowhere  else.  Freedom  of  conscience  is  enjoyed 
here  in  the  fullest  degree.  Our  States  are  not  disturbed  by 
a  contrariety  of  religious  opinions  and  other  causes  of  quar- 
rels which  other  nations  have.  They  have  no  causes  of 
internal  variance.  Causes  of  war  between  the  States  have 
been  represented  in  all  those  terrors  which  splendid  genius 
and  brilliant  imagination  can  so  well  depict.  But,  sir,  1 
conceive  they  are  imaginary  —  mere  creatures  of  fancy. 


ROBESPIERRE 


'aximilien  Marie  Isidore  Robespierre,  French  revolutionist  and  mad- 
man during  the  Reign  of  Terror,  was  born  at  Arras,  France,  May  6,  1758, 
and  died  by  the  guillotine  in  Paris,  July  28,  1794.  Educated  at  Arras, 
and  at  the  College  of  Louis  the  Great,  Paris,  he  studied  law  and  was 
admitted  to"  the  Bar  in  1781.  Following  his  profession  at  his  native  town,  he  was 
appointed  criminal  judge  in  the  diocese  of  Arras,  a  post  he,  however,  resigned  rather 
than  pass  upon  a  culprit  the  death-sentence  which  the  law  demanded.  Resuming  his 
law  practice,  he  for  a  time  took  to  literary  pursuits,  which  in  1784  gained  for  an  essay 
he  wrote  a  medal  from  the  Academy  of  Metz.  Elected  in  1789  to  the  States-General, 
he  blossomed  into  a  radical  Democrat  and  became  leader  of  the  Extreme  Left.  Three 
years  later,  on  the  death  of  Mirabeau,  his  fell  influence  became  dominant,  and  an  era 
of  raging  revolution  approached,  such  as  struck  terror  to  the  hearts  of  even  the  boldest 
and  aroused  the  horror  of  all  Europe.  The  flight  of  the  King  followed,  which  excited 
Robespierre's  suspicions  of  foreign  intervention  and  inflamed  the  revolutionary  clubs. 
The  monarch's  arrest  and  return  in  ignominy  to  Paris  were  but  steps  that  led  to  the 
King's  execution,  to  the  suppression  of  the  privileged  orders,  and  to  the  demand 
for  the  Revolutionary  Tribunal,  which  by  its  iijhumanity  and  violence  fanned  the  flame 
of  fanaticism  and  anarchy,  and  caused  the  streets  of  Paris  to  run  with  blood.  Robes- 
pierre, meanwhile,  had  been  returned  in  1792  a  deputy  from  Paris  to  the  National  Con- 
vention, and  in  July  of  the  following  year  he  became  a  member  of  the  Committee  of 
Public  Safety.  In  both  of  these  bodies  the  Girondists  or  moderate  Republicans  were 
in  the  minority,  so  the  Jacobins,  the  men  of  the  Mountain,  moved  on  unchecked  to  that 
Saturnalia  of  bloodshed  which  they  let  loose  on  the  capital  and  on  the  towns,  such  as 
Lyons,  Arras,  Toulon,  and  Nantes,  of  fair  France.  The  holocaust  of  murder  during 
the  "  Reign  of  Terror "  was  appalling;  by  a  righteous  retribution,  one  of  its  victims 
was  Robespierre  himself,  who,  owing  to  a  schism  that  had  arisen  in  the  infamous  Com- 
mittee of  Public  Safety,  fell  before  the  intrigues  of  his  enemies  and  of  the  despotic 
power  which  he  had  insanely  arrogated  to  himself.  Writing  of  the  Reign  of  Terror 
and  the  September  massacres,  Carlyle  observes  that  "  it  is  unfortunate,  though  very 
natural,  that  the  history  of  this  period  has  so  generally  been  written  in  hysterics. 
Exaggeration  abounds,  execration,  wailing;  and  on  the  whole  darkness."  Those  who 
are  familiar  with  the  annals  of  the  era  in  French  history,  and,  above  all,  who  know  the 
contemporary  documents,  need  have  no  wonder  that  history  has  dealt  with  the  period 
as  it  has.  Nor  can  they  fail  to  determine  how  far  Robespierre,  of  all  the  actors  in 
the  Revolution,  was  responsible  for  the  inhuman  tragedies  of  the  time,  and  how  the 
lurid  curtain  lifted  when  he  went  to  his  doom. 

Vol.  4—3  (33) 


34  UOBKSPIEREE 


AGAINST  GRANTING  THE  KING  A  TRIAL 

DELIVERED  DECEMBER  3.  1792 

LOUIS  was  king  and  the  Republic  is  founded  ;  the  famous 
question  which  occupies  you  is  decided  by  these  words 
alone.  Louis  has  been  dethroned  for  his  crimes  ;  Louis 
denounced  the  French  people  as  rebellious  ;  he  has  called  the 
arms  of  tyrants,  his  colleagues,  to  chastise  them  ;  victory  and 
the  people  have  decided  that  he  alone  was  rebellious  :  so  Louis 
cannot  be  judged;  lie  is  already  judged.  lie  is  condemned, 
or  the  Republic  is  not  absolved.  To  propose  a  trial  for 
Louis  XVI,  in  any  way  whatever,  is  to  retrograde  towards 
royal  and  constitutional  despotism;  it  is  a  counter-revolution- 
ary idea;  for  it  is  putting  the  revolution  itself  in  question. 
Indeed,  if  Louis  can  still  be  the  object  of  a  trial,  Louis  can 
be  absolved;  lie  can  be  innocent.  AVhat  do  I  say?  He  is 
presumably  so  until  he  is  judged.  But  if  Louis  is  absolved, 
if  Louis  can  be  presumed  to  be  innocent,  what  does  the  Revo- 
lution become?  If  Louis  is  innocent,  all  the  defenders  of 
liberty  become  calumniators.  All  the  rebels  were  friends  of 
truth  and  the  defenders  of  oppressed  innocence;  all  the 
manifestoes  of  foreign  courts  are  only  legitimate  complaints 
against  a  ruling  faction.  Even  the  confinement  that  Louis 
is  subjected  to  until  the  present  time  is  an  unjust  vexation; 
the  federates,  the  people  of  Paris,  all  the  patriots  of  the 
French  empire  are  guilty ;  and  this  great  trial  pending  in 
the  court  of  nature,  between  crime  and  virtue,  between 
liberty  and  tyranny,  is  finally  decided  in  favor  of  crime  and 
tyranny.     Citizens,  take  care;  you  are  deceived  here  by  false 


AGAINST    GRAISTING    TflE    KIXG    A    TRIAL  35 

notions;  you  are  confounding  the  rules  of  civil  and  positive 
law  with  the  principles  of  the  law  of  nations;  you  are  con- 
founding the  relations  of  the  citizens  among  themselves  with 
the  relations  of  nations  to  an  enemy  conspiring  against  them ; 
again,  you  are  confounding  the  situation  of  a  people  in  revo- 
lution with  that  of  a  people  whose  government  is  established ; 
you  are  confounding  a  nation  which  punishes  a  public 
functionary,  while  preserving  the  form  of  government  and 
that  which  destroys  the  government  itself.  We  attribute  to 
ideas  which  are  familiar  to  us  an  extraordinary  case  which 
depends  on  principles  that  we  have  never  applied.  So, 
because  we  are  accustomed  to  see  offences  of  which  we  are 
the  witnesses  judged  acording  to  uniform  rules,  we  are 
naturally  inclined  to  believe  that  in  no  circumstance  nations 
can  with  equity  proceed  otherwise  against  a  man  who  has 
violated  their  rights,  and  where  we  do  not  see  a  jury,  a 
court,  a  trial,  we  do  not  find  justice.  Even  those  terms 
which  we  apply  to  ideas  different  from  those  which  they 
express  in  common  use  completely  deceive  us.  Such  is  the 
natural  empire  of  habit  that  we  regard  the  most  arbitrary, 
sometimes  even  the  most  defective  institutions,  as  the  most 
absolute  rule  of  truth  or  falsehood,  justice  and  injustice. 
We  do  not  even  dream  that  the  majority  still  hold  neces- 
sarily to  the  prejudices  with  which  despotism  has  nourished 
us;  we  have  been  so  long  bowed  under  its  yoke  that  we  lift 
ourselves  with  difficulty  to  the  eternal  principles  of  reason; 
everything  that  rises  to  the  sacred  source  of  all  laws  seems 
in  our  eyes  to  assume  an  illegal  character,  and  the  very  order 
of  nature  seems  to  us  disorder.  The  majestic  movements 
of  a  great  people,  the  sublime  impulses  of  virtue,  often 
present  themselves  to  our  timid  eyes  like  the  eruptions  of 
a  volcano  or  the  overthrow  of  political  society;  and  surely  it 


36  MAXIMiriKN    MARIE    ISIDORE    ROBESPIERRE 

is  not  the  least  cause  of  the  troubles  which  agitate  us,  this 
eternal  contradiction  betAveen  the  weakness  of  our  customs, 
the  depravity  of  our  minds,  and  the  purity  of  principles,  the 
energy  of  character  which  the  free  government  to  which  we 
dare  pretend  supposes. 

When  a  nation  has  been  forced  to  have  recourse  to  the 
right  of  insurrection  it  returns  to  a  state  of  nature  in  regard 
to  the  tyrant.  How  could  the  latter  appeal  to  the  social 
compact?  He  has  annihilated  it.  The  nation  can  preserve 
it  still,  if  she  thinks  it  proper,  for  whatever  concerns  the 
relations  of  citizens  among  themselves:  but  the  effect  of 
tyranny  and  insurrection  is  to  break  it  entirely  with  regard 
to  the  tyrant;  it  is  to  establish  them  reciprocally  in  a  state 
of  war ;  the  tribunals,  the  judiciary  procedures,  are  made  for 
the  members  of  the  city.  It  is  a  gross  contradiction  to  sup- 
pose that  the  constitution  can  preside  over  this  new  state  of 
things;  it  would  be  to  suppose  that  it  survived  itself.  AVhat 
are  the  laws  which  replace  it?  Those  of  nature,  which  is 
the  basis  of  society  itself;  the  safety  of  the  people.  The 
right  to  punish  the  tyrant  and  that  to  dethrone  him  are  the 
same  thing.  The  one  does  not  admit  of  different  forms  from 
the  other.  The  tyrant's  trial  is  insurrection;  his  judgment 
is  the  fall  of  his  power;  his  penalty,  whatever  the  liberty 
of  the  people  demands. 

Peoples  do  not  judge  like  judiciary  courts :  they  give  no 
sentence,  they  hurl  forth  the  thunderbolt;  they  do  not  con- 
demn kings,  they  plunge  them  into  nothingness;  and  this 
justice  is  well  worth  that  of  tribunals.  If  they  arm  them- 
selves against  their  oppressors  for  their  own  safety,  how 
should  they  be  bound  to  adopt  a  method  of  punishing  them 
which  would  be  a  new  danger  to  them? 

We    have    allowed    ourselves    to    be    misled    by    foreign 


AGAINST    GRANTING    THE    KING    A    TRIAL  37 

examples  which  have  nothing  in  common  with  us.  Since 
Cromwell  caused  Charles  I  to  be  judged  by  a  tribunal  which 
he  controlled;  since  Elizabeth  had  Mary  of  Scotland  con- 
demned in  the  same  way,  it  is  natural  that  tyrants  who  are 
sacrificing  their  equals,  not  to  the  people,  but  to  their  own 
ambition,  should  try  to  deceive  the  opinion  of  the  common 
crowd  by  illusive  forms.  It  is  neither  a  question  of  princi- 
ples, nor  of  liberty,  but  of  trickery  and  intrigue;  but  the 
people!  What  other  law  can  they  follow  but  justice  and 
right  supported  by  their  omnipotence? 

In  what  republic  has  the  necessity  of  punishing  the  tyrant 
been  litigious?  Was  Tarquin  called  to  judgment?  What 
would  have  been  said  in  Rome  if  the  Romans  had  dared  to 
declare  themselves  their  own  defenders?  What  are  we 
doing?  We  are  calling  everywhere  for  advocates  to  plead 
the  cause  of  Louis  XVI. 

We  sanction  as  legitimate  acts  those  which  among  all  free 
people  would  have  been  regarded  as  the  greatest  of  crimes. 
We  ourselves  invite  the  citizens  to  baseness  and  corruption. 
Some  day  we  shall  be  able  to  award  to  Louis's  defenders 
civic  crowns;  because  if  they  defend  his  cause  they  can 
hope  to  make  it  triumph;  otherwise  you  would  give  to  the 
universe  only  a  ridiculous  comedy.  And  we  dare  speak 
of  a  republic !  We  invoke  forms  because  we  have  no  princi- 
ples; we  take  pride  in  our  delicacy  because  we  lack  energy; 
we  display  a  false  humanity  because  the  sentiment  of 
true  humanity  is  a  stranger  to  us;  we  revere  the  shade 
of  a  king  because  we  are  without  bowels  of  mercy  for  the 
oppressed. 

The  trial  of  Louis  XVI?  What  is  this  trial,  if  it  is  not 
the  call  of  insurrection  to  a  tribunal  or  to  some  assembly? 
When  a  king  has  been  annihilated  by  the  people,  who  has 


38  MAXIAriLIEN    :MAR1E    ISIDORE    ROBESPIERRE 

the  right  to  resuscitate  biin  in  order  to  make  a  new  pretext 
for  trouble  and  rebellion^  And  what  other  effects  can  this 
system  produce'^  By  opening  an  arena  to  the  champions 
of  Louis  XVI  you  resuscitate  all  the  quarrels  of  despotism 
with  liberty;  you  sanction  the  right  to  blaspheme  against 
the  Republic  and  against  the  people,  because  the  right  to 
defend  the  former  despot  conveys  the  right  to  say  everything 
favorable  to  his  cause.  You  arouse  all  the  factions ;  you  re- 
vive, you  encourage  dormant  royalism.  One  could  freely 
take  part  for  or  against  it.  What  more  legitimate,  what  more 
natural  than  to  repeat  everywhere  the  maxims  that  his 
defenders  would  be  able  to  profess  loudly  at  your  bar  and 
even  in  your  tribune^  What  a  liepublic  it  is,  the  founders 
of  which  arouse  adversaries  on  every  side  to  attack  it  in  its 
cradle ! 

It  is  a  great  cause,  you  say,  which  must  be  judged  with 
wise  and  slow  circumspection.  It  is  you  who  make  a  great 
cause  of  it.  What  do  I  say?  It  is  you  who  make  a 
cause  of  it.  What  do  you  find  great  in  it?  Is  it  the  diffi- 
culty^ Xo.  Is  it  the  person?  In  the  eyes  of  liberty  there 
is  none  more  vile;  in  the  eyes  of  humanity  there  is  none  more 
guilty.  He  can  impose  again  only  on  those  who  are  more 
dastardly  than  himself.  Is  it  the  utility  of  the  result? 
That  is  another  reason  for  hastening  it.  A  great  cause  is  a 
project  of  popular  law ;  a  great  cause  is  that  of  an  unfortunate 
oppressed  by  despotism.  What  is  the  motive  of  these  ever- 
lasting delays  which  you  recommend  to  us?  Are  you  afraid 
of  wounding  the  opinion  of  the  people?  As  if  the  people 
themselves  feared  anything  but  the  weakness  or  ambition  of 
their  proxies!  As  if  the  people  were  a  vile  troop  of  slaves, 
stupidly  attached  to  the  stupid  tyrant  whom  they  have  pro- 
scribed, desiring  at  whatever  price  to  wallow  in  baseness  and 


AGAINST    GEAXTIXG    THE    KING    A    TRIAL  39 

in  servitude!  You  speak  of  opinion;  is  it  not  for  you  to 
direct  it,  to  fortify  it^  If  it  goes  astray,  if  it  is  depraved, 
who  must  be  blamed  if  not  you  yourselves^  Are  you  afraid 
of  displeasing  the  foreign  kings  leagued  against  us  ?  Oh ! 
without  doubt,  the  way  to  conquer  them  is  to  appear  to  fear 
them:  the  way  to  confound  the  criminal  conspiracy  of  the 
despots  of  Europe  is  to  respect  their  accomplice.  Are  you 
afraid  of  foreign  peoples?  Then  you  still  believe  in  the 
innate  love  of  tyranny.  Why  then  do  you  aspire  to  the 
glory  of  emancipating  the  human  race?  By  what  contra- 
diction do  you  suppose  that  the  nations  which  have  not  been 
astonished  by  the  proclamation  of  the  rights  of  humanity 
wll  be  dismayed  at  the  chastisement  of  one  of  its  most 
cruel  oppressors  ?  Finally  you  fear,  they  say,  the  opinion 
of  posterity.  Yes,  posterity  will  be  astonished  indeed  at 
your  inconsequence  and  your  weakness;  and  our  descendants 
will  laugh  both  at  the  presumption  and  the  prejudices  of 
their  fathers.  It  has  been  said  that  it  takes  genius  to  get  to 
the  bottom  of  this  question.  I  maintain  that  it  takes  only 
good  faith :  it  is  much  less  a  matter  of  enlightening  one's  self 
than  of  not  voluntarily  blinding  one's  self.  Why  does  a  thing 
which  seems  clear  to  us  at  one  time  seem  obscure  at  another? 
Why  does  that  which  the  good  sense  of  the  people  decides 
easily  change  for  its  delegates  to  an  almost  unsolvable  prob- 
lem? Have  we  the  right  to  have  a  general  will  and  a  differ- 
ent wisdom  from  universal  reason? 

I  have  heard  the  defenders  of  inviolability  advance  a 
bold  principle  which  I  should  have  almost  hesitated  to 
express  myself.  They  said  that  those  who  would  have  slain 
Louis  XVI  the  tenth  of  August  would  have  done  a  virtuous 
action.  But  the  only  basis  of  this  opinion  can  be  nothing 
but  the  crimes  of  Louis  XVI  and  the  rights  of  the  people. 


40  MAXIMILIKN    MAKTK    ISIDORE    ROBESPIERRE 

But  has  an  interval  of  three  months  changed  his  crimes  or 
the  rights  of  the  people?  If  then  he  was  snatched  away  from 
public  indignation  it  was  without  doubt  solely  that  his 
punishment,  solemnly  ordered  by  the  National  Convention 
in  the  name  of  the  nation,  should  be  more  imposing  to  the 
enemies  of  humanity;  but  to  bring  up  the  question  whether 
he  is  guilty  or  whether  he  can  be  punished  is  to  betray  the 
faith  given  to  the  French  people.  There  are  perhaps  some 
who,  either  to  hinder  the  Assembly  from  taking  a  character 
worthy  of  it,  or  to  take  away  from  the  nations  an  example 
which  would  elevate  souls  to  the  height  of  republican  prin- 
ciples, or  through  still  more  shameful  motives,  would  not 
be  sorry  if  a  private  hand  filled  the  functions  of  national 
justice.  Citizens,  beware  of  this  trap;  whoever  will  dare 
to  give  such  advice  will  only  serve  the  enemies  of  the 
people.  Wliatever  happens,  Louis's  punishment  is  hence- 
forth good  only  as  it  bears  the  solemn  character  of  a  public 
vengeance. 

Of  what  importance  to  the  people  is  the  despicable  indi- 
vidual of  the  last  of  the  kings?  Representatives,  what  is 
important  to  them,  what  is  important  to  yourselves,  is  that 
you  fulfill  the  duties  which  their  confidence  has  imposed 
upon  you.  You  have  proclaimed  the  Ivepublic,  but  have 
you  given  it  to  us?  We  have  not  yet  made  a  single  law 
which  justifies  that  name;  we  have  not  yet  reformed  a  single 
abuse  of  despotism.  Take  away  the  name,  we  have  still 
tyranny  entirely;  and,  moreover,  factions  more  vile  and 
charlatans  more  immoral,  with  new  fermentations  of  troubles 
and  civil  war.  The  Republic!  And  Louis  still  lives!  And 
you  place  the  person  of  the  king  again  between  us  and 
liberty!  On  account  of  scruples  let  us  fear  to  make  crimi- 
nals of  ourselves;  let  us  fear    that  by  showing  too  much 


AGAINST    GRANTING    THE    KING    A    TRIAL  41 

indulgence  for  the  guilty-  we  may  place  ourselves  in  his 
place. 

A  new  difficulty !  To  what  punishment  shall  we  condemn 
Louis?  The  punishment  of  death  is  too  cruel.  ISTo,  says 
another,  life  is  more  cruel  still.  I  ask  that  he  may  live. 
Advocates  of  the  king,  is  it  through  pity  or  cruelty  that 
you  wish  to  keep  him  from  the  penalty  of  his  crimes?  As 
for  me,  I  abhor  the  penalty  of  death  lavished  by  your  laws, 
and  I  have  neither  love  nor  hatred  for  Louis.  I  hate  only 
his  crimes.  I  have  asked  the  Assembly,  which  you  still  call 
Constituent,  for  the  abolition  of  the  death  penalty,  and  it  is 
not  my  fault  if  the  first  principles  of  right  seem  to  it  moral 
and  political  heresies.  But  if  you  never  took  it  upon  your- 
selves to  demand  them  in  favor  of  so  many  unfortunates 
whose  offences  are  less  their  own  than  those  of  the  govern- 
ment, by  what  chance  do  you  remember  them  only  to  plead 
the  cause  of  the  greatest  of  all  criminals  ?  You  ask  an  excep- 
tion to  the  death  penalty  for  him  alone  who  can  make  it 
legitimate !  Yes,  the  penalty  of  death  generally  is  a  crime, 
and  for  that  reason  alone,  after  the  indestructible  principles 
of  nature,  can  be  justified  only  in  cases  when  it  is  necessary 
for  the  safety  of  individuals  or  the  social  body.  Moreover, 
public  safety  never  provokes  it  against  ordinary  offences, 
because  society  can  always  guard  against  them  by  other 
means  and  make  the  offender  powerless  to  harm  it.  But  a 
dethroned  king  in  the  bosom  of  a  revolution  which  is  nothing 
less  than  cemented  by  laws,  a  king  whose  name  alone  draws 
the  scourge  of  war  on  the  agitated  nation,  neither  prison  nor 
exile  can  render  his  existence  indifferent  to  public  happi- 
ness; and  this  cruel  exception  to  ordinary  laws  which  justice 
allows  can  only  be  imputed  to  the  nature  of  his  crimes, 


VON   DOBELN 


[teutenaxt-Gexerai,  G.  K.  von  Dobeln  was  born  in  Finland  ii 
1758,  and  died  in  1820.  He  served  in  the  war  between  Russia  and 
Sweden  in  1788,  and  when  hostilities  again  broke  out  in  1808  he 
was  appointed  lieutenant-general  of  the  Finnish  wing  of  the  Swedish 
army,  and  was  deemed  one  of  its  ablest  and  most  skillful  officers.  In  1809,  he 
retired  to  private  life  after  the  treaty  of  peace  between  the  two  countries  was 
consummated. 


ADDRESS   TO  THE  FINNISH  TROOPS,  OCTOBER  8,   1809 

SOLDIERS!  I  have  mustered  the  arinj  to  inform  you 
that  a  preliminary  treaty  of  peace  was  made  on  the 
seventeenth  of  September  between  the  Swedish  and 
Russian  powers.  These  glad  tidings  of  peace  end  the  hor- 
rors of  a  disastrous  war.  It  is  welcome  news,  as  Sweden's 
exhausted  resources  do  not  permit  a  continuance  of  a  war- 
fare entered  into  through  a  political  mistake  and  which  for 
two  years  has  undermined  her  strength  and  prestige.  But 
Finland  passes  away  from  Sweden ;  henceforth  Tornea  River 
will  be  the  boundary  line.  Finns!  with  the  conclusion  of 
peace  one  third  of  the  domain  of  the  Swedish  crown  is  lost, 
Sweden  must  part  forever  with  the  proud  Finnish  nation, 
her  mightiest  support;  yet  that  is  not  all,  the  Swedish  army 
is  stripped  of  the  essential  wing  of  its  fighting  power.  Our 
motherland  is  crushed,  drowned  in  sorrow  and  sadness  over 
the  irreparable  sacrifice,  but  Almighty  God,  in  his  wisdom, 
has  sealed  our  fate  and  we  must  accept  it  v/ith  patience  and 
submission. 

Soldiers,  comrades,  brothers!  you  who  during  the  late  war 
(42) 


ADDRESS    TO    FINNISH    TROOPS  43 

with  so  much  faithfulness  and  unfailing  courage  fought  the 
enemy,  despite  his  numerical  strength  and  boastfulness,  and 
defeated  him  on  a  score  of  battle-fields,  you  who,  unaided, 
recaptured  half  of  Finland,  you  who  fought  afterward  with 
perseverance  for  the  soil  of  your  motherland,  Sweden,  you 
who  have  gathered  here  are  a  precious  remnant  of  the  proud 
Finnish  nation  and  its  gallant  warriors!  To  you  I  extend, 
and  I  do  so  with  deep  emotion,  most  sincere  thanks  from  the 
king,  the  estates  of  the  realm,  the  Swedish  people,  the 
Swedish  army,  my  superior  officers,  my  comrades,  myself; 
yes,  from  all.  The  king's  pleasure,  the  good  will  of  the 
estates,  the  admiration  of  the  Swedish  people,  the  esteem  of 
the  Swedish  army,  recognition  from  my  brothers,  my  own 
affection  for  you,  are  the  offerings  consecrated  to  you,  and 
which  I  lay  down  upon  the  altar.  Finns  and  brothers!  your 
achievements  are  great,  and  the  gratitude  which  I  extend  to 
you  in  behalf  of  all  is  in  proportion  thereto.  Its  proper 
interpretation  requires  the  best  efforts  of  an  orator,  and  I 
am  a  soldier.  Soldier!  what  proud  distinction  to  receive  that 
title  from  you,  share  it  with  you  and  bear  it  for  your  sake. 
Accept,  therefore,  the  thanks  of  a  heart  affected  with 
emotion. 

And  to  the  Swedish  troops  assembled  on  this  touching  occa- 
sion. You  are  the  living  witnesses  to  our  motherland's 
boundless  gratitude.  Swedes!  pride  yourselves  that  you 
have  seen  these  fragments  of  the  Finnish  army.  Remember 
them,  honor  them;  behold  their  emaciated  forms,  their  pale 
faces.  These  are  the  signs  of  their  faithful,  although  vain, 
efforts  to  liberate  their  native  soil  in  years  gone  by. 

And  now,  a  closing  word  to  the  Finlanders.  When  you 
return  to  your  homes  tell  your  nation  of  the  thankfulness 
of   the    Swedish   people.     Bear   in   mind   that   though   you 


44  LIEUTENANT-GENERAL    G.   K.   VON    DOBELN 

return  in  ragged  clothes,  with  pierced  bodies  or  amputated 
limbs,  you  carry  with  you,  nevertheless,  the  pride  of  the  true 
soldier.  You  can  never  become  enemies  toward  Sweden, 
your  motherland,  I  am  sure,  but  will  remain  its  friends  for- 
ever. We  shall,  from  generation  to  generation,  bless  you 
and  honor  you.  One  thing  I  ask  of  you,  that  when  you 
approach  the  battle-fields  where  we  defeated  our  enemies, 
and  when  you  see  the  countless  sand-hills  which  cover  our 
fallen  comrades,  send  up  a  sigh  for  blessing  over  their 
remains ;  they  died  heroes,  and  honor  stands  guard  over  their 
ashes.  You  know  the  vagaries  of  the  human  heart,  its 
readiness  to  adopt  an  object  of  affection  which  it  believes  it 
can  never  forget,  yet  ere  a  few  weeks  have  gone  by  it  has 
made  another  choice.  Time  transforms  everything,  and  with 
its  flight  all  is  forgotten.  ISTevertheless,  I  assure  you,  as 
you  also  will  realize,  that  the  bond  of  friendship  between 
warriors  tried  in  battle,  in  danger,  in  blood  and  death,  can 
never  break.  Thus  you  and  I  are  assured  of  continual  love 
for  each  other,  ^inlanders  and  brothers,  could  tears  of 
blood  from  my  eyes  seal  these  words,  they  would  flow  in 
streams,  every  drop  an  assurance  of  my  respect  and 
friendship. 

[Special   translation   by   Charles   E.    Hurd.] 


WILLIAM    PITT 


iiLi.iA.M    Pitt,    distinguished   Whig   statesman  and  orator,' and    "greatest 
master  of  the   whole   art   of   parliamentary  government,"   as   Macaulay 
termed   him,    was   born   in   Kent,    England,    May  28,   J 759,  and  died  at 
Putney,  on   the   Thames,  Jan.  23,  1806.     He   was  the  second  son  of  the 
famous  first  Earl  of  Chatham,  and  was  educated  under  private  tutorshipjand  at  Pembroke 
Hall,  Cambridge,  where  he  became  a  proficient  classic,  with  a  passion  also  for  mathe- 
matics, which   was   of   use   to   him   in   Parliament  when   he  twice  filled   the   post  of 
chancellor   of  the   exchequer.     In  1780,   he   was   called   to   the   Bar,  and   in   the   fol- 
lowing   year     entered   the   House    of    Commons,   where   he   allied   himself    with  the 
Shelburne   opposition   to   Lord   North,  and  early  in  his  career   delivered  a  masterly 
speech   in  favor  of  Burke's  scheme  of  economical  reform.     When  only  in  his  twenty- 
fourth  year,  he  was  appointed  chancellor  of  the  exchequer  in  Lord  Shelburne's  brief 
ministry  and  became   leader   in   the   popular   chamber.     In   1783,    on  the   overthrow 
of   the  coalition   government   of   North  and  Fox,   Pitt   became    prime    minister,  and 
after   an   appeal   to   the   country  he  held   this   commanding   position  of  the  premier, 
ship  continuously  for  seventeen  years.     During  this   period,  he  was   all-powerful  in 
Parliament,    and   was   the   idol   of  his   country,    owing  to   his   great   abilities,   high 
disinterestedness   as  a  statesman,   and  his  lofty    patriotism.     His  administration  was 
remarkable   for  the    manner    in   which   it   steered   safely  through  the   troubles  and 
complexities  of  a  strenuous  time,  while  Pitt  especially   deserves  credit  for  his  desire 
to   preserve   peace  with  France,  to  conciliate    Ireland   and  bring  her  into  the  union, 
and  for  his  abounding   sympathy  with  every  measure   tending  to  promote  civil  and 
religious  liberty.     His  fame  somewhat  pales  after  1793,  when  war  with  France  broke 
out,  with  its  defeats  to  English  arms,  though  Pitt  ever  bore  a  brave  front  whatever 
the  national  adversities  of  the  time,  and  however  powerful  was  the  opposition,  led  by 
Burke,    Fox,    and    Sheridan,    against    him   and  his    government.      In   1801,  he  was 
compelled   to   resign   the   premiership,    being   specially  foiled  in  his  design   to   raise 
Catholics   and   Dissenters   alike  to  perfect   equality  of   civil  rights.     He  reappeared, 
however,  in  Parliament  in  1803,  when  he  made  a  powerful  speech  in  favor  of  the  war 
with  France,  and  in  May,il804,  his  brief  second  administration  began.     Though  French 
invasion  was  frustrated  by  Nelson,  English  arms  suffered  defeat  at  Illm  and  Austerlitz, 
and  this  brought  the  great  statesman  to  his  grave.     While  peace  was  maintained,  Pitt 
did  much  for  his  country's  commerce,  while  he  also  sought  to  raise  statesmanship  to  a 
higher   plane,  to  purge   politics   of   corruption,  and   to    secure    reforms    both  in  and 
out   of  Parliament.      It    has    been    said    of   Pitt,   that    "he   was  the    first   English 
Minister  who   really   grasped  the   part  which   industry  was  to  play  in  promoting  the 
welfare  of  the  world."     The  saying  is  true   and  cannot  be  gainsaid,  by  those,  at  least, 
who  are  familiar  with  Pitt's  general  industrial  policy  and  with  his  labors  in  behalf  of 
financial  reform ;  while  great  credit  is  due  him  for  his  efforts  to  maintain  the  English 
nation  at  peace,  at  a  time  when,  as  it  was  said,  "all  governments  were  its  enemies,"  and 
when  but  for  his  courageous  and  astute  pilotage  at  an  era  of  grave  and  complex  dis- 
turbance in  Europe,  Britain  might  herself  have  fallen  into  the  swoon  and  welter  of 
the   time. 

(45) 


4f5  WIT.I.IAM    PITT 


SPEECH  ON  REFUSAL  TO  NEGOTIATE 

[This  was  the  most  elaborate  oration  ever  delivered  by  Mr.  Pitt,  and  as  a 
parliamentary  discourse  designed  at  once  to  inform  and  inspire  it  has  probably 
never  been  surpassed.  It  was  delivered  before  the  Hou.se  of  Commons,  February 
3,  1800.  Of  the  vast  variety  of  facts  brought  forward  or  referred  to,  very  few 
have  ever  been  disputed;  they  are  arranged  in  luminous  order,  and  grow  out 
of  each  other  in  regular  succession;  they  present  a  vivid  and  horrible  picture 
of  the  miseries  inflicted  upon  Europe  by  revolutionary  France,  while  the  prov- 
ocations of  her  enemies  are  thrown  entirely  into  the  background.] 

I  WILL  enlarge  no  further  on  the  origin  of  the  war.  1 
have  read  and  detailed  to  you  a  system  which  was  in 
itself  a  declaration  of  war  against  all  nations,  which  was 
so  intended,  and  which  has  been  so  applied,  which  has  been 
exemplified  in  the  extreme  peril  and  hazard  of  almost  all  who 
for  a  moment  have  trusted  to  treaty  ajid  which  has  not  at 
this  hour  overwhelmed  Europe  in  one  indiscriminate  mass  of 
ruin,  only  because  we  have  not  indulged,  to  a  fatal  extremity, 
that  disposition  which  we  have,  however,  indulged  too  far  ;  be- 
cause we  have  not  consented  to  trust  to  profession  and  com- 
promise, rather  than  to  our  own  valor  and  exertion,  for  security 
against  a  system  from  which  we  never  shall  be  delivered  till 
either  the  principle  is  extinguished  or  its  strength  is  exhausted. 

I  might,  sir,  if  I  found  it  necessary,  enter  into  much  detail 
upon  this  part  of  the  subject.  You  cannot  look  at  the  map  of 
Europe  and  lay  your  hand  upon  that  country  against  which 
France  has  not  either  declared  an  open  and  aggressive  war, 
or  violated  some  positive  treaty,  or  broken  some  recognized 
principle  of  the  law  of  nations. 

This  subject  may  be  divided  into  various  j)eriods.  There 
were  some  acts  of  hostility  committed  previous  to  the  war 
with  this  country,  and  very  little,  indeed,  subsequent  to  that 
declaration,  which  abjured  the  love  of  conquest.      The    attack 


ON    REFUSAL    TO    NEGOTIATE  47 

upon  the  papal  state,  bj  the  seizure  of  Avignon,  in  1791,  was 
accompanied  with  specimens  of  all  the  vile  arts  and  perfidy 
that  ever  disgraced  a  revolution.  Avignon  was  separated 
from  its  lawful  sovereign,  with  whom  not  even  the  pretence 
of  quarrel  existed,  and  forcibly  incorporated  in  the  tyranny 
of  one  and  indivisible  France.  The  same  system  led,  in  the 
same  year,  to  an  aggression  against  the  whole  German  empire, 
by  the  seizure  of  Porentrui,  part  of  the  dominions  of  the 
bishop  of  Basle. 

Afterward,  in  1792,  unpreceded  by  any  declaration  of  war 
or  any  cause  of  hostility,  and  in  direct  violation  of  the  solemn 
pledge  to  abstain  from  conquest,  they  made  war  against  the 
king  of  Sardinia,  by  the  seizure  of  Savoy,  for  the  purpose 
of  incorporating  it  in  like  manner  with  France.  In  the  same 
year  they  had  proceeded  to  the  declaration  of  war  against 
Austria,  against  Prussia,  and  against  the  German  empire, 
in  which  they  have  been  justified  only  on  the  ground  of  a 
rooted  hostility,  combination,  and  league  of  sovereigns  for 
the  dismemberment  of  France. 

I  say  that  some  of  the  documents  brought  to  support  this 
defence  are  spurious  and  false. 

I  say  that  even  in  those  that  are  not  so  there  is  not  one 
word  to  prove  the  charge  principally  relied  upon,  that  of  an 
intention  to  efPect  the  dismemberment  of  France  or  to  im- 
pose upon  it,  by  force,  any  particular  constitution.  I  say 
that,  as  far  as  we  have  been  able  to  trace  what  passed  at 
Pilnitz,  the  declaration  there  signed  referred  to  the  imprison- 
ment of  Louis  XVI;  its  immediate  view  was  to  effect  his 
deliverance  if  a  concert  sufficiently  extensive  could  be  formed 
with  other  sovereigns  for  that  purpose.  .  It  left  the  internal 
state  of  France  to  be  decided  by  the  king  restored  to  his  lib- 
erty, with  the  free  consent  of  the  states  of  his  kingdom,  and 


48  •  WILLIAM    PITT 

it  did  not  contain  one  word  relative  to  the  dismemberment  of 
France. 

In  the  subsequent  discussions  which  took  place  in  1792,  and 
which  embraced  at  the  same  time  all  the  other  points  of 
jealousy  which  had  arisen  between  the  two  countries,  the 
declaration  of  Pilnitz  was  referred  to,  and  explained  on  the 
part  of  Austria  in  a  manner  precisely  conformable  to  what  I 
have  now  stated.  The  amicable  explanations  which  took 
place,  both  on  this  subject  and  on  all  the  matters  in  dispute, 
will  be  found  in  the  official  correspondence  between  the  two 
courts,  which  has  been  made  public;  and  it  will  be  found,  also, 
that  as  long  as  the  negotiation  continued  to  be  conducted 
through  M.  Delessart,  then  minister  for  foreign  affairs,  there 
was  a  great  prospect  that  those  discussions  would  be  amicably 
terminated;  but  it  is  notorious,  and  has  since  been  clearly 
proved  on  the  authority  of  Brissot  himself,  that  the  violent 
party  in  France  considered  such  an  issue  of  the  negotiation 
as  likely  to  be  fatal  to  their  projects,  and  thought,  to  use  his 
own  words,  that  "  war  was  necessary  to  -consolidate  the  Revo- 
lution." 

For  the  express  purpose  of  producing  the  war  they  excited 
a  popular  tumult  in  Paris;  they  insisted  upon  and  obtained 
the  dismissal  of  M.  Delessart.  A  new  minister  was  appointed 
in  his  room;  the  tone  of  the  negotiation  was  immediately 
changed,  and  an  ultimatum  was  sent  to  the  Emperor,  similar 
to  that  which  was  afterward  sent  to  this  country,  affording 
him  no  satisfaction  on  his  just  grounds  of  complaint,  and  re- 
quiring him,  under  those  circumstances,  to  disarm.  The  first 
events  of  the  contest  proved  how  much  more  France  was  pre- 
pared for  war  than  Austria,  and  afford  a  strong  confirmation 
of  the  proposition  which  I  maintain,  that  no  offensive  inten- 
tion was  entertained  on  the  part-  of  the  latter  power. 


ON    REFUSAL    TO    NEGOTIATE  49 

War  was  then  declared  against  Austria,  a  war  which  I  state 
to  be  a  war  of  aggression  on  the  part  of  France.  The  king 
of  Prussia  had  declared  that  he  should  consider  war  against 
the  Emperor  or  empire  as  war  against  himself.  He  had  de- 
clared that  as  a  co-estate  of  the  empire  he  was  determined  to 
defend  their  rights ;  that  as  an  ally  to  the  Emperor  he  would 
support  him  to  the  utmost  against  any  attack;  and  that  for 
the  sake  of  his  o\vn  dominions,  he  felt  himself  called  upon 
to  resist  the  progress  of  French  principles  and  to  maintain 
the  balance  of  power  in  Europe.  With  this  notice  before 
them,  France  declared  war  upon  the  Emperor,  and  the  war 
with  Prussia  was  the  necessary  consequence  of  this  aggression, 
both  against  the  Emperor  and  the  empire. 

The  war  against  the  king  of  Sardinia  follows  next.  The 
declaration  of  that  war  was  the  seizure  of  Savoy  by  an  invad- 
ing army — and  on  what  ground?  On  that  which  has  been 
stated  already.  They  had  found  out,  by  some  light  of  nature, 
that  the  Rhine  and  the  Alps  were  the  natural  limits  of  France. 
Upon  that  ground  Savoy  was  seized;  and  Savoy  was  also  in- 
corporated with  France. 

Here  finishes  the  history  of  the  wars  in  which  France  was 
engaged  antecedent  to  the  war  with  Great  Britain,  with  Hol- 
land, and  with  Spain.  With  respect  to  Spain,  we  have  seen 
nothing  which  leads  us  to  suspect  that  either  attachment  to 
religion,  or  the  ties  of  consanguinity,  or  regard  to  the  ancient 
system  of  Europe,  was  likely  to  induce  that  court  to  connect 
itself  in  offensive  war  against  France.  The  war  was  evidently 
and  incontestably  begun  by  France  against  Spain. 

The  case  of  Holland  is  so  fresh  in  every  man's  recollection, 
and  so  connected  with  the  immediate  causes  of  the  war  with 
this  country,  that  it  cannot  require  one  word  of  observation. 
What  shall  I  say,  then,  on  the  case  of  Portugal?     I  cannot, 

Vol.  4-t1 


50  WILLIAM    PIIT 

indeed,  say  that  France  ever  declared  war  against  that  coun- 
try. I  can  hardly  say  even  that  she  ever  made  war,  but  she 
required  them  to  make  a  treaty  of  peace  as  if  they  had  been 
at  war;  she  obliged  them  to  purchase  that  treaty;  she  broke 
it  as  soon  as  it  was  purchased ;  and  she  had  originally  no  other 
ground  of  complaint  than  this,  that  Portugal  had  performed, 
though  inadequately,  the  engagements  of  its  ancient  defen- 
sive alliance  Avith  this  country  in  the  character  of  an  auxiliary 
— a  conduct  which  cannot  of  itseK  make  any  power  a  prin- 
cipal in  a  war. 

T  have  now  enumerated  all  the  nations  at  war  at  that  period, 
with  the  exception  only  of  Naples.  It  can  hardly  be  neces- 
sary to  call  to  the  recollection  of  the  House  the  characteristic 
feature  of  revolutionary  principles  which  was  shown,  even 
at  this  early  period,  in  the  personal  insult  offered  to  the  king 
of  Naples  by  the  commander  of  a  French  squadron  riding 
uncontrolled  in  the  Mediterranean,  and  (while  our  fleets 
were  yet  unarmed)  threatening  destruction  to  all  the  coast 
of  Italy. 

It  was  not  till  a  considerably  later  period  that  almost  all 
the  other  nations  of  Europe  found  themselves  equally  in- 
"^olved  in,  actual  hostility;  but  it  is  not  a  little  material  to 
the  whole  of  my  argument,  compared  with  the  statement 
of  the  learned  gentleman  and  with  that  contained  in  the 
French  note,  to  examine  at  what  period  this  hostility  ex- 
tended itself.  It  extended  itself,  in  the  course  of  1796,  to 
the  states  of  Italy  which  had  hitherto  been  exempted  from 
it.  In  1797  it  had  ended  in  the  destruction  of  most  of  them; 
it  had  ended  in  the  virtual  deposition  of  the  king  of  Sardinia; 
it  had  ended  in  the  conversion  of  Genoa  and  Tuscany  into 
democratic  republics;  it  had  ended  in  the  revolution  of 
Venice,  in  the  violation  of  treaties  with  the  new  Venetian 


ox    REFrSAL    TO    NEGOTIATE  51 

republic;  and,  finally,  in  transferring  that  very  republic, 
the  creature  and  ^'assal  of  France,  to  the  dominion  of 
Austria. 

I  observe  from  the  ijc^tures  of  some  honorable  gentlemen 
that  they  think  we  are  precluded  from  the  use  of  any  argu- 
ment founded  on  this  last  transaction.  I  already  hear  them 
saying  that  it  was  as  criminal  in  Austria  to  receive  as  it  was 
in  France  to  give.  I  am  far  from  defending  or  palliating 
the  conduct  of  Austria  upon  this  occasion.  But  because 
Austria,  unable  at  last  to  contend  with  the  arms  of  France, 
was  forced  to  accept  an  unjust  and  insufficient  indemnifica- 
tion for  the  conquests  France  had  made  from  it,  are  we  to 
be  debarred  from  stating  what,  on  the  part  of  France,  was 
not  merely  an  unjust  acquisition,  but  an  act  of  the  grossest 
and  most  aggravated  perfidy  and  cruelty,  and  one  of  the  most 
striking  specimens  of  that  system  which  has  been  uniformly 
and  indiscriminately  applied  to  all  the  countries  which  France 
has  had  within  its  grasp? 

This  only  can  be  said  in  vindication  of  France  (and  it  is 
still  more  a  vindication  of  Austria),  that,  practically  speaking, 
if  there  is  any  part  of  this  transaction  for  which  Venice  itself 
lias  reason  to  be  grateful,  it  can  only  be  for  the  permission 
to  exchange  the  embraces  of  French  fraternity  for  what  is 
called  the  despotism  of  Vienna. 

Let  these  facts  and  these  dates  be  compared  with  what 
we  have  heard.  The  honorable  gentleman  has  told  us,  and 
the  author  of  the  note  from  France  has  told  us  also,  that  all 
the  French  conquests  were  produced  by  the  operations  of  che 
allies.  It  was  when  they  were  pressed  on  all  sides,  when 
their  own  territory  was  in  danger,  when  their  own  independ- 
ence was  in  question,  when  the  confederacy  appeared  too 
strong,  it  was  then  they  used  the  means  with  which  their 


52  WILLIAM    PITT 

power  and  tlieir  courage  furnished  them,  and,  "  attacked  upon 
all  sides,  they  carried  everywhere  their  defensive  arms." 

I  do  not  wish  to  misrepresent  the  learned  gentleman,  but 
I  understood  him  to  speak  of  this  sentiment  with  approbation. 
The  sentiment  itself  is  this,  that  ii  a  nation  ia  unjustly  at- 
tacked in  any  one  quarter  by  others,  she  cannot  stop  to  con- 
sider by  whom,  but  must  find  means  of  strength  in  other  quar- 
ters, no  matter  where;  and  is  justified  in  attacking,  in  her 
turn,  tbose  with  whom  she  is  at  peace,  and  from  whom  she 
has  received  no  species  of  provocation. 

Sir,  I  hope  I  have  already  proved,  in  a  great  measure,  that 
no  such  attack  was  made  upon  France;  but,  if  it  was  made, 
I  maintain  that  the  whole  ground  on  which  that  argument  is 
founded  cannot  be  tolerated.  In  the  name  of  the  laws  of 
nature  and  nations,  in  the  name  of  everything  that  is  sacred 
and  honorable,  I  demur  to  that  plea  ;  and  I  tell  that  honorable 
and  learned  gentleman  that  he  would  do  well  to  look  again 
into  the  law  of  nations  before  he  ventures  to  come  to  this 
House  to  give  the  sanction  of  his  authority  to  so  dreadful  and 
execrable  a  system. 

I  certainly  understood  this  to  be  distinctly  the  tenor  of  the 
learned  gentleman's  argument,  but  as  he  tells  me  he  did  not 
use  it,  I  take  it  for  granted  he  did  not  intend  to  use  it.  I 
rejoice  that  he  did  not ;  but  at  least,  then,  I  have  a  right  to 
expect  that  the  learned  gentleman  should  now  transfer  to  the 
French  note  some  of  the  indignation  which  he  has  hitherto 
lavished  upon  the  declarations  of  this  country. 

This  principle,  which  the  learned  gentleman  disclaims,  the 
French  note  avows;  and  I  contend,  without  the  fear  of  con- 
tradiction, it  is  the  principle  upon  which  France  has  uni- 
formly acted.  But  while  the  learned  gentleman  disclaims 
this  proposition,  he  certainly  will  admit  that  he  has  himself 


ON    REFUSAL   TO    NEGOTIATE  53 

asserted,  and  maintained  in  the  whole  course  of  his  argument, 
that  the  pressure  of  the  ^A^ar  upon  France  imposed  upon  her 
the  necessity  of  those  exertions  which  produced  most  of  the 
enormities  of  the  revolution,  and  most  of  the  enormities  prac- 
tised against  the  other  countries  of  Europe.  The  House  will 
recollect  that  in  the  year  1796,  when  all  these  horrors  in  Italy 
were  beginning,  which  are  the  strongest  illustrations  of  the 
general  character  of  the  French  revolution,  we  had  begun 
that  negotiation  to  which  the  learned  gentleman  has  referred. 

England  then  possessed  numerous  conquests.  England, 
though  not  having  at  that  time  had  the  advantage  of  three  of 
her  most  splendid  victories,  England  even  then  appeared  un- 
disputed mistress  of  the  sea. 

England,  having  then  engrossed  the  whole  wealth  of  the 
colonial  world;  England,  having  lost  nothing  of  its  original 
possessions ;  England  then  comes  forward,  proposing  a  general 
peace,  and  offering — what  ?  offering  the  surrender  of  all  that 
it  had  acquired,  in  order  to  obtain — what  ?  Not  the  dismem- 
berment, not  the  partition  of  ancient  France,  but  the  return 
of  a  part  of  those  conquests,  no  one  of  which  could  be  retained, 
but  in  direct  contradiction  to  that  original  and  solemn  pledge 
which  is  now  referred  to  as  the  proof  of  the  just  and  moderate 
disposition  of  the  French  republic.  Yet  even  this  offer  was 
not  sufficient  to  procure  peace  or  to  arrest  the  progress  of 
France  in  her  defensive  operations  against  other  unoffending 
countries ! 

From  the  pages,  however,  of  the  learned  gentleman's  pam- 
phlet (which,  after  all  its  editions,  is  now  fresher  in  his 
memory  than  in  that  of  any  other  person  in  this  House  or  in 
the  country),  he  is  furnished  with  an  argument,  on  the  result 
of  the  negotiations,  on  which  he  appears  confidently  to  rely. 
He  maintains  that  the  single  point  on  which  the  negotiation 


54  WILLIAM    PITT 

was  broken  off  was  the  question  of  the  possession  of  the  Aus- 
trian Netherlands,  and  that  it  is  therefore  on  that  ground 
only  that  the  war  has,  since  that  time,  been  continued. 

When  this  subject  was  before  under  discussion,  I  stated, 
and  I  shall  state  again  (notwithstanding  the  learned  gentle- 
man's accusation  of  mj  having  endeavored  to  shift  the  ques- 
tion from  its  true  point),  that  the  question  then  at  issue  was 
not  whether  the  Netherlands  should  in  fact  be  restored; 
though  even  on  that  question  I  am  not  (like  the  learned  gen- 
tleman) unprepared  to  give  any  opinion.  I  am  ready  to  say 
that  to  leave  that  territory  in  the  possession  of  France  would 
be  obviously  dangerous  to  the  interests  of  this  countr}-,  and  is 
inconsistent  with  the  policy  which  it  has  uniformly  pursued 
at  every  period  in  which  it  has  concerned  itself  in  the  general 
system  of  the  Continent. 

But  it  was  not  on  the  decision  of  this  question  of  expediency 
and  policy  that  the  issue  of  the  negotiation  then  turned. 
What  was  required  of  us  by  France  was,  not  merely  that  we 
should  acquiesce  in  her  retaining  the  Netherlands,  but  that, 
as  a  preliminary  to  all  treaty,  and  before  entering  upon  the 
discussion  of  terms,  we  should  recognize  the  principle  that 
whatever  France,  in  time  of  war,  had  annexed  to  the  republic 
must  remain  inseparable  forever,  and  could  not  become  the 
subject  of  negotiation. 

I  say  that  in  refusing  such  a  preliminary  we  were  only 
resisting  the  claim  of  France  to  arrogate  to  itself  the  power 
of  controlling,  by  its  own  separate  and  municipal  acts,  the 
rights  and  interests  of  other  countries,  and  molding,  at  its 
discretion,  a  new  and  general  code  of  the  law  of  nations. 

In  reviewing  the  issue  of  this  negotiation,  it  is  important 
to  observe  that  France,  who  began  by  abjuring  a  love  of  con- 
quest, was  desired  to  give  up  nothing  of  her  own,  not  even  to 


ON    REFUSAL   TO    NEGOTIATE  00 

give  up  all  that  she  had  conquered ;  that  it  was  offered  to  her 
to  receive  back  all  that  had  been  conquered  from  her;  and 
when  she  rejected  the  negotiation  for  peace  upon  these 
grounds,  are  we  then  to  be  told  of  the  unrelenting  hostility  of 
the  combined  powers,  for  which  France  was  to  revenge  itself 
upon  other  countries,  and  which  is  to  justify  the  subversion 
of  every  established  government,  and  the  destruction  of  prop- 
erty, religion,  and  domestic  comfort  from  one  end  of  Italy 
to  the  other  ?  Such  was  the  effect  of  the  war  against  Modena, 
against  Genoa,  against  Tuscany,  against  Venice,  against 
Rome,  and  against  Xaples,  all  of  which  she  engaged  in,  or 
prosecuted,  subsequent  to  this  very  period. 

After  this,  in  the  year  1Y97,  Austria  had  made  peace ;  Eng- 
land and  its  ally,  Portugal  (from  whom  we  could  expect  little 
active  assistance,  but  whom  we  felt  it  our  duty  to  defend), 
alone  remained  in  the  war.  ■  In  that  situation,  under  the  pres- 
sure of  necessity,  which  I  shall  not  disguise,  we  made  another 
attempt  to  negotiate.  In  1797,  Prussia,  Spain,  Austria, 
Naples,  having  successively  made  peace,  the  princes  of  Italy 
having  been  destroyed,  France  having  surrounded  itself,  in 
almost  every  part  in  which  it  is  not  surrounded  by  the  sea, 
with  revolutionary  republics,  England  made  another  offer  of 
a  different  nature.  It  was  not  now  a  demand  that  France 
should  restore  anything. 

Austria  having  made  a  peace  upon  her  own  terms,  England 
had  nothing  to  require  wath  regard  to  her  allies,  she  asked 
no  restitution  of  the  dominions  added  to  France  in  Europe. 
So  far  from  retaining  anything  French  out  of  Europe,  we 
freely  offered  them  all,  demanding  only,  as  a  poor  compensa- 
tion, to  retain  a  part  of  what  we  had  acquired  by  arms  from 
Holland,  then  identified  with  France.  This  proposal  also, 
sir,  was  proudly  refused,  in  a  way  which  the  learned  gentle- 


56  WILLIAM    PITT 

man  himself  has  not  attempted  to  justify,  indeed  of  which 
he  has  spoken  witli  detestation.  I  wish,  since  he  has  not 
finally  abjured  his  duty  in  this  House,  that  that  detestation 
had  been  stated  earlier ;  that  he  had  mixed  his  own  voice  with 
the  general  voice  of  his  country'  on  the  result  of  that  nego- 
tiation. 

Let  us  look  at  the  conduct  of  France  immediately  subse- 
quent to  this  period.  She  had  spurned  the  offers  of  Great 
Britain ;  she  had  reduced  her  Continental  enemies  to  the 
necessity  of  accepting  a  precarious  peace;  she  had  (in  spite 
of  those  pledges  repeatedly  made  and  uniformly  violated) 
surrounded  herself  by  new  conquests  on  every  part  of  her 
frontier  but  one.  That  one  was  Switzerland.  The  first  effect 
of  being  relieved  from  the  war  with  Austria,  of  being  secured 
against  all  fears  of  Continental  invasion  on  the  ancient  terri- 
tory of  France,  was  their  unprovoked  attack  against  this  un- 
offending and  devoted  country. 

This  was  one  of  the  scenes  which  satisfied  even  those  who 
were  the  most  incredulous  that  France  had  thrown  off  the 
mask,  ''  if  indeed  she  had  ever  worn  it."  It  collected,  in 
one  view,  many  of  the  characteristic  features  of  that  revolu- 
tionary system  which  I  have  endeavored  to  trace — the  perfidy 
which  alone  rendered  their  arms  successful — the  pretexts  of 
which  they  availed  themselves  to  produce  division  and  pre- 
pare the  entrance  of  Jacobinism  in  that  country — the  proposal 
of  armistice,  one  of  the  known  and  regular  engines  of  the 
revolution,  Avhich  was,  as  usual,  the  immediate  prelude  to 
military  execution,  attended  with  cruelty  and  barbarity  of 
which  there  are  few  examples. 

All  these  are  known  to  the  world.  The  country  they  at- 
tacked was  one  which  had  long  been  the  faithful  ally  of 
France,  which,  instead  of  giving  cause  of  jealousy  to  any 


ON    REFUSAL    TO    NEGOTIATE  57 

other  power,  had  been  for  ages  proverbial  for  the  simplicity 
and  innocence  of  its  manners,  and  which  had  acquired  and 
preserved  the  esteem  of  all  the  nations  of  Europe ;  which  had 
almost,  by  the  common  consent  of  mankind,  been  exempted 
from  the  sound  of  war,  and  marked  out  as  a  land  of  Goshen, 
safe  and  untouched  in  the  midst  of  surrounding  calamities. 

Look,  then,  at  the  fate  of  Switzerland,  at  the  circumstances 
which  led  to  its  desti*uction.  Add  this  instance  to  the  cata- 
logue of  aggression  against  all  Europe,  and  then  tell  me 
whether  the  system  I  have  described  has  not  been  prosecuted 
with  an  unrelenting  spirit  which  cannot  be  subdued  in  ad- 
versity, which  cannot  be  appeased  in  prosj^erity,  which  neither 
solemn  professions,  nor  the  general  law  of  nations,  nor  the 
obligation  of  treaties  (whether  previous  to  the  revolution  or 
subsequent  to  it),  could  restrain  from  the  subversion  of  every 
state  into  which,  either  by  force  or  fraud,  their  arms  could 
penetrate. 

Then  tell  me,  whether  the  disasters  of  Europe  are  to  be 
charged  upon  the  provocation  of  this  country  and  its  allies, 
or  on  the  inherent  principle  of  the  French  revolution,  of 
which  the  natural  result  produced  so  much  misery  and 
carnage  in  France  and  carried  desolation  and  terror  over  so 
large  a  portion  of  the  world. 

Sir,  much  as  I  have  now  stated,  I  have  not  finished  the  cata- 
logue. America,  almost  as  much  as  Switzerland,  perhaps, 
contributed  to  that  change  which  has  taken  place  in  the  minds 
of  those  who  were  originally  partial  to  the  principles  of  the 
French  government.  The  hostility  against  America  followed 
a  long  course  of  neutrality  adhered  to  under  the  strongest 
provocations,  or  rather  of  repeated  compliances  to  France, 
with  which  we  might  well  have  been  dissatisfied.  It  was  on 
the  face  of  it  unjust  and  wanton;  and  it  was  accompanied 


58  ^VILLIAM     riTT 

by  those  instances  of  sordid  corruption  which  shocked  and 
disgusted  even  the  enthusiastic  admirers  of  revolutionary 
purity  and  threw  a  new  light  on  the  genius  of  revolutionary 
government. 

After  this,  it  remains  only  shortly  to  remind  gentlemen  of 
the  aggression  against  Egypt,  not  omitting,  however,  to  notice 
the  capture  of  Malta  in  the  way  to  Egypt.  Inconsiderable 
as  that  island  may  be  thought,  compared  with  the  scenes  we 
have  witnessed,  let  it  be  remembered  that  it  is  an  island  of 
which  the  government  had  long  been  recognized  by  every 
state  of  Europe,  against  which  France  pretended  no  cause 
of  war,  and  whose  independence  was  as  dear  to  itself  and  as 
sacred  as  that  of  any  country  in  Europe.  It  was  in  fact  not 
unimportant,  from  its  local  situation  to  the  other  powers  of 
Europe;  but  in  proportion  as  any  man  may  diminish  its  im- 
portance the  instance  will  only  serve  the  more  to  illustrate 
and  confirm  the  proposition  which  I  have  maintained. 

The  all-searching  eye  of  the  Erench  Revolution  looks  to 
every  part  of  Europe  and  every  quarter  of  the  world  in 
which  can  be  found  an  object  either  of  acquisition  or  plun- 
der. Nothing  is  too  great  for  the  temerity  of  its  ambition, 
nothing  too  small  or  insignificant  for  the  grasp  of  its  rapacity. 
From  hence  Bonaparte  and  his  army  proceeded  to  Egypt. 

The  attack  was  made,  pretences  were  held  out  to  the  na- 
tives of  that  country  in  the  name  of  the  French  king  whom 
they  had  murdered.  They  pretended  to  have  the  approba- 
tion of  the  Grand  Seignior  whose  territory  they  were  violat- 
ing; their  project  was  carried  on  under  the  profession  of  a 
zeal  for  Mohammedanism ;  it  was  carried  on  by  proclaiming 
that  France  had  been  reconciled  to  the  Mussulman  faith,  had 
abjured  that  of  Christianity,  or,  as  he  in  his  impious  language 
termed  it,  of  the  sect  of  the  Messiah. 


ON    REFUSAL    TO    NEGOTIATE  59 

The  onlj  plea  which  they  have  since  held  out  to  color  this 
atrocious  invasion  of  a  neutral  and  friendly  territory  is  that 
it  was  the  road  to  attack  the  English  powder  in  India,  It  is 
most  unquestionably  true  that  this  was  one  and  a  principal 
cause  of  this  unparalleled  outrage;  but  another  and  an  equally 
substantial  cause  (as  appears  by  their  own  statements)  was 
the  division  and  partition  of  the  territories  of  what  they 
thought  a  falling  power.  It  is  impossible  to  dismiss  this  sub- 
ject without  observing  that  this  attack  against  Egypt  was 
accompanied  by  an  attack  upon  the  British  possessions  in 
India,  made  on  true  revolutionary  principles.  In  Europe 
the  propagation  of  the  principles  of  France  had  uniformly 
prepared  the  way  for  the  progress  of  its  arms. 

To  India  the  lovers  of  peace  had  sent  the  messengers  of 
Jacobinism  for  the  purpose  of  inculcatinsr  war  in  those  dis- 
tant regions  on  Jacobin  principles,  and  of  forming  Jacobin 
clubs,  which  they  actually  succeeded  in  establishing,  and 
which  in  most  respects  resembled  the  European  model,  but 
which  were  distinguished  by  this  peculiarity,  that  they  were 
required  to  swear  in  one  breath  hatred  to  tyranny,  the  love 
of  liberty,  and  the  destruction  of  all  kings  and  sovereigns, 
except  the  good  and  faithful  ally  of  the  French  republic, 
Citizen  Tippoo. 

What,  then,  was  the  nature  of  this  system?  Was  it 
anything  but  what  I  have  stated  it  to  be — an  insatiable  love 
of  aggrandizement,  an  implacable  spirit  of  destruction  against 
all  the  civil  and  religious  institutions  of  every  country?  This 
is  the  first  moving  and  acting  spirit  of  the  French  Revolu- 
tion; this  is  the  spirit  which  animated  it  at  its  birth,  and  this 
is  the  spirit  which  will  not  desert  it  till  the  moment  of  its 
dissolution,  "  which  grew  wnth  its  growth,  which  strengthened 
with  its  strength,"  but  which  has  not  abated  under  its  mis- 


go  WILLIAM     PITT 

fortunes  nor  declined  in  its  decay.  It  has  been  invariably 
the  same  in  every  period,  operating  more  or  less,  according 
as  accident  or  circumstances  might  assist  it;  but  it  has  been 
inherent  in  the  revolution  in  all  its  stages;  it  has  cqually 
belonged  to  Brissot,  to  Kobespierre,  to  Tallien,  to  Reubel, 
to  Barras,  and  to  every  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  Directory, 
but  to  none  more  than  to  Bonaparte,  in  whom  now  all  their 
powers  are  united. 

Wliat  are  its  characters?  Can  it  be  accident  that  produced 
them?  Xo,  it  is  only  from  the  alliance  of  the  most  horrid 
principles,  with  the  most  horrid  means,  that  such  miseries 
could  have  been  brought  upon  Europe.  It  is  this  paradox 
which  we  must  always  keep  in  mind  when  we  are  discussing 
any  question  relative  to  the  effects  of  the  French  Revolution. 
Groaning  under  every  degree  of  misery,  the  victim  of  his 
own  crimes,  and  as  I  once  before  expressed  in  this  House, 
asking  pardon  of  God  and  of  man  for  the  miseries  which  it 
has  brought  upon  itself  and  others,  France  still  retains  (while 
it  has  left  neither  means  of  comfort. nor  almost  of  subsist- 
ence to  its  own  inhabitants)  new  and  unexampled  means  of 
annoyance  and  destruction  against  all  the  other  powers  of 
Europe. 

Its  first  fundamental  principle  was  to  bribe  the  poor 
against  the  rich,  by  proposing  to  transfer  into  new  hands,  on 
the  delusive  notion  of  equality,  and  in  breach  of  every  prin- 
ciple of  justice,  the  whole  property  of  the  country.  The  prac- 
tical application  of  this  principle  w^as  to  devote  the  whole 
of  that  property  to  indiscriminate  plunder,  and  to  make  it 
the  foundation  of  a  revolutionary  system  of  finance,  produc- 
tive in  proportion  to  the  misery  and  desolation  which  it 
created. 

It  has  been  accompanied  by  an  unwearied  spirit  of  pro- 


ON    REFUSAL    TO    NEGOTIATE  61 

seljtism,  diffusing  itself  over  all  the  nations  of  the  earth:  a 
spirit  which  can  apply  itself  to  all  circumstances  and  all  sit- 
uations, which  can  furnish  a  list  of  grievances  and  hold  out 
a  promise  of  redress  equally  to  all  nations;  which  inspired 
the  teachers  of  French  liberty  with  the  hope  of  alike  recom- 
mending themselves  to  those  who  live  under  the  feudal  code 
of  the  German  empire;  to  the  various  states  of  Italy,  under 
all  their  different  institutions ;  to  the  old  republicans  of  Hol- 
land, and  to  the  new  republicans  of  America;  to  the  Cath- 
olic of  Ireland,  whom  it  was  to  deliver  from  Protestant  usur- 
pation; to  the  Protestant  of  Switzerland,  whom  it  was  to  de- 
liver from  popish  superstition;  and  to  the  Mussulman  of 
Egypt,  whom  it  was  to  deliver  from  Christian  persecution; 
to  the  remote  Indian,  blindly  bigoted  to  his  ancient  institu- 
tions; and  to  the  natives  of  Great  Britain,  enjoying  the  per- 
fection of  practical  freedom,  and  justly  attached  to  their  con- 
stitution, from  the  joint  result  of  habit,  of  reason,  and  of  ex- 
perience. 

The  last  and  distinguishing  feature  is  a  perfidy  which 
nothing  can  bind,  which  no  tie  of  treaty,  no  sense  of  the 
principles  generally  received  among  nations,  no  obligation, 
human  or  divine,  can  restrain.  Thus  qualified,  thus  armed 
for  destruction,  the  genius  of  the  Prench  Kevolution 
marched  forth,  the  terror  and  dismay  of  the  world.  Every 
nation  has  in  its  turn  been  the  witness,  many  have  been  the 
victims  of  its  principles ;  and  it  is  left  for  us  to  decide  whether 
we  will  compromise  with  such  a  danger  while  we  have  yet 
resources  to  supply  the  sinews  of  war,  while  the  heart  and 
spirit  of  the  country  is  yet  unbroken,  and  while  we  have  the 
means  of  calling  forth  and  supporting  a  powerful  co-opera- 
tion in  Europe. 

Much  more  might  be  said  on  this  part  of  the  subject;  but 


62 


"WILLIAM     PITT 


if  what  1  have  said  already  is  a  faithful,  though  only  an  im- 
perfect, sketch  of  those  excesses  and  outrages  which  even  his- 
tory itself  will  hereafter  he  unahle  fully  to  represent  and 
record,  and  a  just  representation  of  the  principle  and  source 
from  which  they  originated,  will  any  man  say  that  we  ought 
to  accept  a  precarious  security  against  so  tremendous  a  dan- 
ger? Much  more — will  he  pretend,  after  the  experience  of 
all  that  has  passed  in  the  different  stages  of  the  French  Rev- 
olution, that  we  ought  to  be  deterred  from  probing  this  great 
question  to  the  bottom,  and  from  examining,  A\'ithout  cere- 
mony or  disgaiise,  whether  the  change  which  has  recently 
taken  place  in  France  is  sufficient  now  to  give  security,  not 
against  a  common  danger,  but  against  such  a  danger  as  that 
which  I  have  described^ 

In  examining  this  part  of  the  subject  let  it  be  remem- 
bered that  there  is  one  other  characteristic  of  the  French 
Revolution  as  striking  as  its  dreadful  and  destructive  prin- 
ciples: I  mean  the  instability  of  its  government,  which  has 
been  of  itself  sufficient  to  destrov  all  reliance,  if  anv  such 
reliance  could  at  any  time  have  been  placed  on  the  good 
faith  of  any  of  its  rulers.  Such  has  been  the  incredible  rapid- 
ity with  which  the  revolutions  in  France  have  succeeded  each 
other,  that  I  believe  the  names  of  those  who  have  successively 
exercised  absolute  power  under  the  pretense  of  liberty  are 
to  be  numbered  by  the  years  of  the  revolution,  and  by  each 
of  the  new  constitutions,  which,  under  the  same  pretense, 
has  in  its  turn  been  imposed  by  force  on  France :  all  of  which 
alike  were  founded  upon  principles  which  professed  to  be 
universal,  and  was  intended  to  be  established  and  perpetuated 
among  all  the  nations  of  the  earth.  Each  of  these  -w-ill  be 
found,  upon  an  average,  to  have  had  about  two  years  as  the 
period  of  its  duration. 


ON    REFUSAL    TO    NEGOTIATE 


63 


Under  this  revohitionary  system,  accompanied  with  this 
perpetual  fluctuation  and  change,  botli  in  the  form  of  the 
government  and  in  the  persons  of  the  rulers,  what  is  the  se- 
curity which  has  hitherto  existed,  and  what  new  security  is 
now  offered?  Before  an  answer  is  given  to  this  question,  let 
me  sum  up  the  history  of  all  the  revolutionary  governments 
of  France,  and  of  their  characters  in  relation  to  other  powers, 
in  words  more  emphatical  than  any  which  I  could  use — the 
memorable  words  pronounced  on  the  eve  of  this  last  consti- 
tution by  the  orator  who  was  selected  to  report  to  an  assem- 
bly, surrounded  by  a  file  of  grenadiers,  the  new  form  of  lib- 
erty which  it  was  destined  to  enjoy  under  the  auspices  of  Gen- 
eral Bonaparte.  From  this  reporter,  the  mouth  and  organ 
of  the  new  government,  we  learn  this  important  lesson : 

"  It  is  easy  to  conceive  why  peace  was  not  concluded  before 
the  establishment  of  the  constitutional  government.  The 
only  government  w^hich  then  existed  described  itself  as  revolu- 
tionary; it  was,  in  fact,  only  the  tyranny  of  a  few  men  w^ho 
were  soon  overthrown  by  others,  and  it  consequently  pre- 
sented BO  stability  of  principles  or  of  views,  no  security 
either  w'ith  respect  to  men  or  with  respect  to  things. 

"  It  should  seem  that  that  stability  and  that  security  ought' 
to  have  existed  from  the  establishment  and  as  the  effect  of 
the  constitutional  system;  and  yet  they  did  not  exist  more, 
perhaps  even  less,  than  they  had  done  before.  In  truth  we 
did  make  some  partial  treaties;  we  signed  a  Continental 
peace,  and  a  general  congress  was  held  to  confirm  it;  but 
these  treaties,  these  diplomatic  conferences,  appear  to  have 
been  the  source  of  a  new  war  more  inveterate  and  more 
bloodv  than  before. 

"  Before  the  18th  Fructidor  (4th  September)  of  the  fifth 
year,  the  French  government  exhibited  to  foreign  nations  so 
uncertain  an  existence  that  they  refused  to  treat  with  it. 
After  this  gi-eat  event  the  whole  power  was  absorbed  in  the 
Directory;  the  legislative  body  can  hardly  be  said  to  have 
existed;  treaties  of  peace  were  broken,  and  war  carried  every- 


64  WILLIAM    PITT 

where,  without  that  body  having  any  share  in  those  meas- 
ures. The  same  Director}-,  after  having  intimidated  all 
Europe,  and  destroyed,  at  its  pleasure,  several  governments, 
neither  knowing  how  to  make  peace  or  war,  or  how  even  to 
establish  itself,  was  overturned  by  a  breath  on  the  13th 
Prairial  (18th  June),  to  make  room  for  other  men,  influenced 
perhaps  by  different  views,  or  who  might  be  governed  by  dif- 
ferent principles. 

*'  Judging,  then,  only  from  notorious  facts,  the  French  gov- 
ernment must  be  considered  as  exhibiting  nothing  fixed, 
neither  in  respect  to  men  nor  to  things." 

Here,  then,  is  the  picture,  down  to  the  period  of  the  last 
revolution,  of  the  state  of  France  under  all  its  successive 
governments ! 

Having  taken  a  view  of  what  it  was,  let  us  now  examine 
what  it  is.  In  the  first  place  we  see,  as  has  been  truly  stated. 
a  change  In  the  description  and  form  of  the  sovereign  author- 
ity. A  supreme  power  is  placed  at  the  head  of  this  nominal 
republic,  with  a  more  open  avowal  of  military  despotism  than 
at  any  former  period;  with  a  more  open  and  undisguised 
abandonment  of  the  names  and  pretences  under  which  that 
despotism  long  attempted  to  conceal  itself.  The  different 
institutions,  republican  in  their  form  and  appearance,  which 
were  before  the  instruments  of  that  despotism,  are  now  an- 
nihilated; they  have  given  way  to  the  absolute  power  of  one 
man,  concentrating  in  himself  all  the  authority  of  the  state, 
and  differing  from  other  monarchs  only  in  this,  that  (as  my 
honorable  friend,  Mr.  Canning,  truly  stated  it)  he  wields  a 
sword  instead  of  a  sceptre.  What,  then,  is  the  confidence 
we  are  to  derive  either  from  the  frame  of  the  government 
or  from  the  character  and  past  conduct  of  the  person  who  is 
now  the  absolute  ruler  of  France? 

Had  we  seen  a  man  of  whom  we  had  no  previous  knowl- 
edge suddenly  invested  with  the  sovereign  authority  of  the 


ON    REFUSAL   TO    NEGOTIATE  65 

country;  invested  with  the  power  of  taxation,  with  the  power 
of  the  sword,  the  power  of  war  and  peace,  the  unlimited  power 
of  commanding  the  resources,  of  disposing  of  the  lives  and 
fortunes  of  every  man  in  France ;  if  we  had  seen  at  the  same 
moment  all  the  inferior  machinery  of  the  revolution,  which, 
under  the  variety  of  successive  shocks,  had  kept  the  system 
in  motion,  still  remaining  entire,  all  that,  by  requisition 
and  plunder,  had  given  activity  to  the  revolutionary  system 
of  finance,  and  had  furnished  the  means  of  creating  an  army, 
by  converting  every  man  who  was  of  age  to  bear  arms  into 
a  soldier,  not  for  the  defence  of  his  own  country,  but  for 
the  sake  of  carrying  the  war  into  the  country  of  the  enemy; 
if  we  had  seen  all  the  subordinate  instruments  of  Jacobin 
power  subsisting  in  their  full  force,  and  retaining  (to  use 
the  French  phrase)  all  their  original  organization;  and  had 
then  observed  this  single  change  in  the  conduct  of  their  af- 
fairs that  there  was  now  one  man,  with  no  rival  to  thwart 
his  measures,  no  colleague  to  divide  his  powers,  no  council 
to  control  his  operations,  no  liberty  of  speaking  or  writing, 
no  expression  of  public  opinion  to  check  or  influence  his  con- 
duct; under  such  circumstances  should  we  be  wrong  to  pause, 
or  wait  for  the  evidence  of  facts  and  experience,  before  we 
consented  to  trust  our  safety  to  the  forbearance  of  a  single 
man,  in  such  a  situation,  and  to  relinquish  those  means  of 
defence  which  have  hitherto  carried  us  safe  through  all  the 
storms  of  the  revolution  ?  if  we  were  to  ask  what  are  the  prin- 
ciples and  character  of  this  stranger  to  whom  fortune  has 
suddenly  committed  the  concerns  of  a  great  and  powerful 
nation  ? 

But  is  this  the  actual  state  of  the  present  question?  Are 
we  talking  of  a.  stranger  of  whom  we  have  heard  nothing? 
'No,  sir;  we  have  heard  of  him;  we,  and  Europe,  and  the 

Vol.  4-5 


66  WILLIAM    PUT 

world,  have  heard  both  of  him  and  of  the  satellites  by  whom 
he  is  surrounded,  and  it  is  impossible  to  discuss  fairly  the 
propriety  of  any  answer  which  could  be  returned  to  his  over- 
tures of  negotiation  without  taking  into  consideration  the 
inferences  to  be  drawn  from  his  personal  character  and  con- 
duct. 

I  know  it  is  the  fashion  with  some  gentlemen  to  represent 
any  reference  to  topics  of  this  nature  as  invidious  and  irritat- 
ing; but  the  truth  is  that  they  rise  unavoidably  out  of  the 
very  nature  of  the  question,  "Would  it  have  been  possible 
for  ministers  to  discharge  their  duty,  in  offering  their  advice 
to  their  sovereign,  either  for  accepting  or  declining  negotia- 
tions, without  taking  into  their  account  the  reliance  to  be 
placed  on  the  disposition  and  the  principles  of  the  person  on 
whose  disposition  and  principles  the  security  to  be  obtained 
by  treaty  must,  in  the  present  circumstances,  principally  de- 
pend? Or  would  they  act  honestly  or  candidly  toward  Par- 
liament and  toward  the  country  if,  having  been  guided  by 
these  considerations,  they  forbore  to  state,  publicly  and  dis- 
tinctly, the  real  grounds  which  have  influenced  their  decision ; 
and  if,  from  a  false  delicacy  and  groundless  timidity,  they 
purposely  declined  an  examination  of  a  point  the  most  es- 
sential toward  enabling  Parliament  to  form  a  just  determina- 
tion on  so  important  a  subject? 

What  opinon,  then,  are  we  led  to  form  of  the  pretensions 
of  the  consul  to  those  particular  qualities  for  which,  in  the 
official  note,  his  personal  character  is  represented  to  us  as  the 
surest  pledge  of  peace  ?  We  are  told  this  is  his  second  at- 
tempt at  general  pacification.  Let  us  see,  for  a  moment, 
how  this  attempt  has  been  conducted.  There  is,  indeed,  as 
the  learned  gentleman  has  said,  a  word  in  the  first  declara- 
tion which  refers  to  general  peace,  and  which  states  this  to 


9 

ON    REFUSAL    TO    NEGOTIATE  67 

be  the  second  time  in  which  the  consul  has  endeavored  to 
accomplish  that  object. 

We  thought  fit,  for  the  reasons  which  have  been  assigned, 
to  decline  altogether  the  proposal  of  treating  under  the  pres- 
ent circumstances,  but  we,  at  the  same  time,  expressly  stated 
that  whenever  the  moment  for  treaty  should  arrive  we  would 
in  no  case  treat  but  in  conjunction  with  our  allies. 

Our  general  refusal  to  negotiate  at  the  present  moment 
does  not  prevent  the  consul  from  renewing  his  overtures; 
but  are  they  renewed  for  the  purpose  of  general  pacification? 
Though  he  had  hinted  at  general  peace  m  the  terms  of  his 
first  note;  though  we  had  shown  by  our  answer  that  we 
deemed  negotiation,  even  for  general  peace,  at  this  moment 
inadmissible;  though  we  added  that,  even  at  any  future  period, 
we  would  treat  only  in  conjunction  with  pur  allies,  what 
was  the  proposal  contained  in  his  last  note?  To  treat  for  a 
separate  peace  between  Great  Britain  and  France. 

Such  was  the  second  attempt  to  effect  general  pacification 
— a  proposal  for  a  separate  treaty  with  Great  Britain.  What 
had  been  the  first  ?  The  conclusion  of  a  separate  treaty  with 
Austria ;  and  there  are  two  anecdotes  connected  with  the 
conclusion  of  this  treaty  which  are  sufficient  to  illustrate 
the  disposition  of  the  pacificator  of  Europe.  This  very  treaty 
of  Campo  Formio  was  ostentatiously  professed  to  be  con- 
cluded with  the  emperor  for  the  purpose  of  enabling  Bona- 
parte to  take  the  command  of  the  army  of  England,  and  to 
dictate  a  separate  peace  with  this  country  on  the  banks 
of  the  Thames.  But  there  is  this  additional  circumstance, 
singular  beyond  all  conception,  considering  that  we  are  now 
referred  to  the  treaty  of  Campo  Formio  as  a  proof  of  the 
personal  disposition  of  the  consul  to  general  peace. 

He  sent  his  two  confidential  and  chosen  friends,  Berthier 


68  WILLIAM    PITT 

and  Monge,  charged  to  communicate  to  the  Directory  this 
treaty  of  Campo  Formio;  to  announce  to  them  that  one  enemy 
was  humbled,  that  the  war  with  Austria  was  terminated,  and, 
therefore,  that  now  was  the  moment  to  prosecute  their  opera- 
tions against  this  country;  they  used  on  this  occasion  the 
memorable  words,  "  The  kingdom  of  Great  Britain  and  the 
French  republic  cannot  exist  together."  This,  I  say,  was  the 
solemn  declaration  of  the  deputies  and  embassadors  of  Bona- 
parte himself,  offering  to  the  Directory  the  first-fruits  of  this 
first  attempt  at  general  pacification. 

So  much  for  his  disposition  toward  general  pacification. 
Let  us  look  next  at  the  part  he  has  taken  in  the  different  stages 
of  the  French  revolution,  and  let  us  then  judge  whether 
we  are  to  look  to  him  as  the  security  against  revolutionary 
principles.  Let  us  determine  what  reliance  we  can  place  on 
his  engagements  with  other  countries  when  we  see  how  he 
has  observed  his  engagements  to  his  own.  When  the  consti- 
tution of  the  third  year  was  established  under  Barras,  that 
constitution  was  imposed  by  the  arms  of  Bonaparte,  then 
commanding  the  army  of  the  triumvirate  in  Paris.  To  that 
constitution  he  then  swore  fidelity.  How  often  he  has  re- 
peated the  same  oath  I  know  not,  but  twice,  at  least,  we  know 
that  he  has  not  only  repeated  it  himself,  but  tendered  it  to 
others,  under  circumstances  too  striking  not  to  be  stated. 

Sir,  the  House  cannot  have  forgotten  the  revolution  of  the 
4th  of  September,  which  produced  the  dismissal  of  Lord 
Malmesbury  from  Lisle.  How  was  that  revolution  procured? 
It  was  produced  chiefly  by  the  promise  of  Bonaparte,  in  the 
name  of  his  army,  decidedly  to  support  the  Directory  in  those 
measures  which  led  to  the  infringement  and  violation  of  every- 
thing that  the  authors  of  the  constitution  of  1795,  or  its  ad- 
herents, could  consider  as  fundamental,  and  which  established 


ON    REFUSAL    TO    NEGOTIATE  69 

a  system  of  despotism  inferior  only  to  that  now  realized  in 
his  own  person.  Immediately  before  this  event,  in  the  midst 
of  the  desolation  and  bloodshed  of  Italy,  he  had  received  the 
sacred  present  of  new  banners  from  the  Directory;  he  deliv- 
ered them  to  his  army  with  this  exhortation : 

''  Let  us  swear,  fellow  soldiers,  by  the  names  of  the  patri- 
ots who  have  died  by  our  side,  eternal  hatred  to  the  enemies 
of  the  constitution  of  the  third  year," — 

— that  very  constitution  which  he  soon  after  enabled  the 
Directory  to  violate,  and  which,  at  the  head  of  his  grenadiers, 
he  has  now  finally  destroyed.  Sir,  that  oath  was  again  re- 
newed in  the  midst  of  that  very  scene  to  which  I  have  last 
referred ;  the  oath  of  fidelity  to  the  constitution  of  the  third 
year  was  administered  to  all  the  members  of  the  assembly 
then  sitting,  under  the  terror  of  the  bayonet,  as  the  solemn 
preparation  for  the  business  of  the  day ;  and  the  morning 
w^as  ushered  in  with  swearing  attachment  to  the  constitution 
that  the  evening  fnight  close  with  its  destruction. 

If  we  carry  our  views  out  of  France  and  look  at  the  dread- 
ful catalogue  of  all  the  breaches  of  treaty,  all  the  acts  of  per- 
fidy at  which  I  have  only  glanced,  and  which  are  precisely 
commensurate  with  the  number  of  treaties  which  the  republic 
has  made  (for  I  have  sought  in  vain  for  any  one  which  it  has 
made  and  which  it  has  not  broken),  if  we  trace  the  history 
of  them  all  from  the  beginning  of  the  revolution  to  the 
present  time,  or  if  we  select  those  which  have  been  accom- 
panied by  the  most  atrocious  cruelty  and  marked  the  most 
strongly  with  the  characteristic  features  of  the  revolution, 
the  name  of  Bonaparte  will  be  found  allied  to  more  of  them 
than  that  of  any  other  that  can  be  handed  down  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  crimes  and  miseries  of  the  last  ten  years..  His 
name  will  be  recorded  with  the  horrors  committed  in  Italy, 


70  WILLIAM    PITT 

in  the  memorable  campaign  of  1796  and  1797,  in  the  Milan- 
ese, iu  Genoa,  in  Modena,  in  Tuscany,  in  Rome,  and  in 
Venice. 

His  entrance  into  Lombardy  was  announced  by  a  solemn 
proclamation,  issued  on  the  27th  of  April,  1796,  which  ter- 
minated with  these  words : 

"  Nations  of  Italy !  the  French  army  is  come  to  break  your 
chains,  the  French  are  the  friends  of  the  people  in  every 
country;  your  religion,  your  property,  your  customs,  shall 
be  respected." 

This  was  followed  by  a  second  proclamation  dated  from 
Milan  20th  of  May  and  signed  "  Bonaparte,"  in  these  terms : 

"  Respect  for  property  and  personal  security ;  respect  for 
the  religion  of  countries :  these  are  the  sentiments  of  the 
government  of  the  French  republic  and  of  the  army  of  Italy. 
The  French,  victorious,  consider  the  nations  of  Lombardy  as 
their  brothers." 

In  testimony  of  this  fraternity,  and  to  fulfill  the  solemn 
pledge  of  respecting  property,  this  very  proclamation  im- 
posed on  the  Milanese  a  provisional  contribution  to  the 
amount  of  twenty  millions  of  livres,  or  near  one  million  ster- 
ling, and  successive  exactions  were  afterward  levied  on  that 
single  state  to  the  amount,  in  the  whole,  of  near  six  millions 
sterling. 

The  regard  to  religion  and  to  the  customs  of  the  country 
was  manifested  with  the  same  scrupulous  fidelity.  The 
churches  were  given  up  to  indiscriminate  plunder.  Every 
religious  and  charitable  fund,  every  public  treasure,  was  con- 
fiscated. The  country  was  made  the  scene  of  every  species  of 
disorder  and  rapine.  The  priests,  the  established  form  of 
worship,  all  the  objects  of  religious  reverence,  were  openly 
insulted  by  the  French  troops;  at  Pavia,    particularly,    the 


ON    REFUSAL    TO    NEGOT&A.TK  71 

tomb  of  St.  Augustin,  which  the  inhabitants  were  accustomed 
to  view  with  peculiar  veneration,  was  mutilated  and  defaced; 
this  last  provocation  having  roused  the  resentment  of  the 
people,  they  flew  to  arms,  surrounded  the  French  garrison 
and  took  them  prisoners,  but  carefully  abstained  from  offer- 
ing any  violence  to  a  single  soldier. 

In  revenge  for  this  conduct,  Bonaparte,  then  on  his  march 
to  the  Mincio,  suddenly  returned,  collected  his  troops,  and 
carried  the  extremity  of  military  execution  over  the  country. 
He  burned  the  tovm  of  Benasco  and  massacred  eight  hundred 
of  its  inhabitants ;  he  marched  to  Pavia,  took  it  by  storm,  and 
delivered  it  over  to  general  plunder,  and  published,  at  the 
•same  moment,  a  proclamation,  of  the  26th  of  May,  ordering 
his  troops  to  shoot  all  those  who  had  not  laid  down  their  arms 
and  taken  an  oath  of  obedience,  and  to  burn  every  village 
where  the  tocsin  should  be  sounded,  and  to  put  its  inhabitants 
to  death. 

The  transactions  with  Modena  were  on  a  smaller  scale,  but 
in  the  same  character.  Bonaparte  began  by  signing  a  treaty 
by  which  the  duke  of  Modena  was  to  pay  twelve  millions  of 
livres,  and  neutrality  was  promised  him  in  return;  this  was 
soon  followed  by  the  personal  arrest  of  the  duke  and  by  a 
fresh  extortion  of  two  hundred  thousand  sequins.  After  this 
he  was  permitted,  on  the  payment  of  a  farther  sum,  to  sign 
another  treaty,  called  a  convention  de  sureie,  which  of  course 
was  only  the  prelude  to  the  repetition  of  similar  exactions. 

Nearly  at  the  same  period,  in  violation  of  the  rights  of 
neutrality  and  of  the  treaty  which  had  been  concluded  be- 
tween the  French  republic  and  the  grand  duke  of  Tuscany  in 
the  preceding  year,  and  in  breach  of  a  positive  promise  given 
only  a  few  days  before,  the  French  army  forcibly  took  posses- 
sion of  Leghorn,  for  the  purpose  of  seizing  the  British  prop- 


72  WILLIAM    PITT 

erty  which  was  deposited  there  and  confiscating  it  as  prize; 
and  shortly  after,  when  Bonaparte  agreed  to  evacuate  Leg- 
horn in  return  for  the  evacuation  of  the  island  of  Elba,  which 
was  in  possession  of  the  British  troops,  he  insisted  upon  a 
separate  article  by  which,  in  addition  to  the  plunder  before 
obtained,  by  the  infraction  of  the  law  of  nations,  it  was 
stipulated  that  the  grand  duke  should  pay  the  expense 
which  the  French  had  incurred  by  this  invasion  of  his  ter- 
ritory. 

In  the  proceedings  toward  Genoa  we  shall  find  not  only  a 
continuance  of  the  same  system  of  extortion  and  plunder,  in 
violation  of  the  solemn  pledge  contained  in  the  proclamations 
already  referred  to,  but  a  striking  instance  of  the  revolution- 
ary means  employed  for  the  destruction  of  independent  gov- 
ernments. A  French  minister  was  at  that  time  resident  at 
Genoa,  which  was  acknowledged  by  France  to  be  in  a  state  of 
neutrality  and  friendship;  in  breach  of  this  neufrality  Bona- 
parte began,  in  the  year  1796,  with  the  demand  of  a  loan. 
He  afterward,  from  the  month  of  September,  required  and 
enforced  the  payment  of  a  monthly  subsidy,  to  the  amount 
which  he  thought  proper  to  stipulate. 

These  exactions  were  accompanied  by  repeated  assurances 
and  protestations  of  friendship;  they  were  followed,  in  May, 
1797,  by  a  conspiracy  against  the  government,  fomented  by 
the  emissaries  of  the  French  embassy,  and  conducted  by  the 
partisans  of  France,  encouraged,  and  afterward  protected  by 
the  French  minister.  The  conspirators  failed  in  their  first 
attempt.  Overpowered  by  the  courage  and  voluntary  ex- 
ertions of  the  inhabitants,  their  force  was  dispersed  and  many 
of  their  number  were  arrested.  Bonaparte  instantly  con- 
sidered the  defeat  of  the  conspirators  as  an  act  of  aggression 
against  the  French  republic;  he  dispatched  an  aid-de-camp 


ON    BBFU8AL    TO    NEGOTIATE  to 

with  an  order  to  the  Senate  of  this  independent  state :  first,  to 
release  all  the  French  who  were  detained;  secondly,  to  punish 
those  who  had  arrested  them ;  thirdly,  to  declare  that  they  had 
no  share  in  the  insurrection;  and  fourthly,  to  disarm  the 
people.  Several  French  prisoners  were  immediately  released, 
and  a  proclamation  was  preparing  to  disarm  the  inhabitants, 
when,  by  a  second  note,  Bonaparte  required  the  arrest  of  the 
three  inquisitors  of  state,  and  immediate  alterations  in  the 
constitution. 

He  accompanied  this  with  an  order  to  the  French  minister 
to  quit  Genoa  if  his  commands  were  not  immediately  carried 
into  execution;  at  the  same  moment  his  troops  entered  the 
territory  of  the  republic,  and  shortly  after,  the  councils,  inti- 
midated and  overpowered,  abdicated  their  functions.  Three 
deputies  were  then  sent  to  Bonaparte  to  receive  from  him  a 
new  constitution. 

On  the  6th  of  June,  after  the  conferences  at  Montebello, 
he  signed  a  convention,  or  rather  issued  a  decree,  by  which 
he  fixed  the  new  form  of  their  government ;  he  himself  named 
provisionally  all  the  members  who  were  to  compose  it,  and  he 
required  the  payment  of  seven  millions  of  livres  as  the  price 
of  the  subversion  of  their  constitution  and  their  independence. 
These  transactions  require  but  one  short  comment.  It  is  to 
be  found  in  the  official  account  given  of  them  at  Paris ;  which 
is  in  these  memorable  words : 

"  General  Bonaparte  has  pursued  the  only  line  of  con- 
duct which  could  be  allowed  in  the  representative  of  a  nation 
which  has  supported  the  war  only  to  procure  the  solemn 
acknowledgment  of  the  right  of  nations  to  change  the  form 
of  their  government.  He  contributed  nothing  toward  the 
revolution  of  Genoa,  but  he  seized  the  first  moment  to 
acknowledge  the  new  government,  as  soon  as  he  saw  that 
it  was  the  result  of  the  wishes  of  the  people." 


74  WILLIAM    PITT 

It  is  unnecessary  to  dwell  on  the  wanton  attacks  against 
Rome,  under  the  direction  of  Bonaparte  himself,  in  the  year 
1796  and  in  the  beginning  of  1797,  which  terminated  first  by 
the  treaty  of  Tolentino  concluded  by  Bonaparte,  in  which,  by 
enormous  sacrifices,  the  Pope  was  allowed  to  purchase  the  ac- 
knowledgment of  his  authority  as  a  sovereign  prince;  and  sec- 
ondly, by  the  violation  of  that  very  treaty,  and  the  subversion 
of  the  papal  authority  by  Joseph  Bonaparte,  the  brother  and 
the  agent  of  the  general,  and  the  minister  of  the  French  Re- 
public to  the  Holy  See, — a  transaction  accompanied  by  out- 
rages and  insults  toward  the  pious  and  venerable  pontiff,  in 
spite  of  the  sanctity  of  his  age  and  the  unsullied  purity  of  his 
character,  which  even  to  a  Protestant  seem  hardly  short  of 
the  guilt  of  sacrilege. 

But  of  all  the  disgusting  and  tragical  scenes  which  took 
place  in  Italy  in  the  course  of  the  period  I  am  describing, 
those  which  passed  at  Venice  are  perhaps  the  most  striking 
and  the  most  characteristic.  In  May,  1796,  the  French  army, 
under  Bonaparte,  in  the  full  tide  of  its  success  against  the 
Austrians,  first  approached  the  territories  of  this  republic, 
which  from  the  commencement  of  the  war  had  observed  a 
rigid  neutrality.  Their  entrance  on  these  territories  Avas,  as 
usual,  accompanied  by  a  solemn  proclamation  in  the  name 
of  their  general : 

"Bonaparte  to  the  Republic  of  Venice!" 

"  It  is  to  deliver  the  finest  country  in  Europe  from  the  iron 
yoke  of  the  proud  house  of  Austria  that  the  French  army 
has  braved  obstacles  the  most  difficult  to  surmount.  Victory 
in  union  with  justice  has  crowned  its  efforts.  The  wreck 
of  the  enemv's  armv  has  retired  behind  the  Mincio.  The 
French  army,  in  order  to  follow  them,  passes  over  the  terri- 
tory of  the  republic  of  Venice;  but  it  will  never  forget  that 
ancient  friendship  unites  the  two  republics.     Religion,  gov- 


ON    BEFUSAL    TO    NEGOTIATE  75 

ernment,  customs,  and  property  shall  be  respected.  That  the 
people  may  be  without  apprehension,  the  most  severe  disci- 
pline shall  be  maintained.  All  that  may  be  provided  for  the 
army  shall  be  faithfully  paid  for  in  money.  The  general-in- 
chief  engages  the  officers  of  the  republic  of  Venice,  the  mag- 
istrates, and  the  priests,  to  make  known  these  sentiments  to 
the  people  in  order  that  confidence  may  cement  that  friend- 
ship which  has  so  long  united  the  two  nations.  Faithful  in 
the  path  of  honor  as  in  that  of  victory,  the  French  soldier  is 
terrible  only  to  the  enemies  of  his  liberty  and  his  govern- 
ment. 

"  BOI^APAKTE." 

This  proclamation  was  followed  by  exactions  similar  to 
.those  which  were  practised  against  Genoa,  by  the  renewal 
of  similar  professions  of  friendship  and  the  use  of  similar 
means  to  incite  insurrection.  At  length,  in  the  spring  of 
1797,  occasion  was  taken  from  disturbances  thus  excited  to 
forge  in  the  name  of  the  Venetian  government  a  proclama- 
tion hostile  to  France,  and  this  proceeding  was  made  the 
ground  for  military  execution  against  the  country,  and  for 
effecting  by  force  the  subversion  of  its  ancient  government 
and  the  establishment  of  the  democratic  forms  of  the  French 
Revolution.  This  revolution  was  sealed  by  a  treaty,  signed 
in  May,  1797,  between  Bonaparte  and  commissioners  ap- 
pointed on  the  part  of  the  new  and  revolutionary  government 
of  Venice. 

By  the  second  and  third  secret  articles  of  this  treaty  Ven- 
ice agreed  to  give  as  a  ransom,  to  secure  itself  against  all  fur- 
ther exactions  or  demands,  the  sum  of  three  millions  of  livres 
in  money,  the  value  of  three  millions  more  in  articles  of  naval 
supply,  and  three  ships  of  the  line;  and  it  received  in  return 
the  assurances  of  the  friendship  and  support  of  the  French 
Republic.  Immediately  after  the  signature  of  this  treaty,  the 
arsenal,  the  library,  and  the  palace  of  St.  Marc  were  ran- 


76  will. I  AM     PITT 

sacked  and  plundered,  and  heavy  additional  contributions 
were  imposed  upon  its  inhabitants.  And  in  not  more  than 
four  months  afterward  this  very  republic  of  Venice, 
united  by  alliance  to  France,  the  creature  of  Bonaparte  him- 
self, from  whom  it  had  received  the  present  of  French  liberty, 
was  by  the  same  Bonaparte  transferred,  under  the  treaty  of 
Campo  Formio,  to  ""  that  iron  yoke  of  the  proud  house  of 
Austria,"  to  deliver  it  from  which  he  had  represented  in  his 
first  proclamation  to  be  the  great  object  of  all  his  opera- 
tions. 

Sir,  all  this  is  followed  by  the  memorable  expedition  into 
Egypt,  which  I  mention,  not  merely  because  it  forms  a  prin- 
cipal article  in  the  catalogue  of  those  acts  of  violence  and* 
perfidy  iu  which  Bonaparte  has  been  engaged;  not  merely 
because  it  was  an  enterprise  peculiarly  his  own,  of  which  he 
was  himself  the  planner,  the  executor,  and  the  betrayer;  but 
chiefly  because  when  from  thence  he  retires  to  a  different 
scene  to  take  possession  of  a  new  throne,  from  which  he  is  to 
speak  upon  an  equality  with  the  kings  and  governors  of 
Europe,  he  leaves  behind  him  at  the  moment  of  his  departure 
a  specimen,  which  cannot  be  mistaken,  of  his  principles  of 
negotiation. 

The  intercepted  correspondence  which  has  been  alluded  to 
in  this  debate  seems  to  afford  the  strongest  ground  to  believe 
that  his  offers  to  the  Turkish  government  to  evacuate  Egypt 
were  made  solely  with  a  view  to  gain  time;  that  the  ratifica- 
tion of  any  treaty  on  this  subject  was  to  be  delayed  with  the 
view  of  finally  eluding  its  performance  if  any  change  of 
circumstances  favorable  to  the  French  should  occur  in  the 
interval.  But  whatever  gentlemen  may  think  of  the  intention 
with  which  these  offers  were  made,  there  will  at  least  be  no 
question  with  respect  to  the  credit  due  to  those  professions  by 


ON    REFUSAL    TO    NEGOTIATE  77 

which  he  endeavored  to  prove  in  Egypt  his  pacific  disposi- 
tions. He  expressly  enjoins  his  successor  strongly  and 
steadily  to  insist,  in  all  his  intercourse  with  the  Turks,  that  he 
came  to  Egypt  with  no  hostile  design,  and  that  he  never  meant 
to  keep  possession  of  the  country ;  while  on  the  opposite  page 
of  the  same  instructions  he  states  in  the  most  unequivocal 
manner  his  regret  at  the  discomfiture  of  his  favorite  JDroject 
of  colonizing  Egypt  and  of  maintaining  it  as  a  territorial 
acquisition. 

Now,  sir,  if  in  any  note  addressed,  to  the  Grand  Vizier  or 
the  Sultan,  Bonaparte  had  claimed  credit  for  the  sincerity  of 
his  professions,  that  he  came  to  Egypt  with  no  view  hostile 
to  Turkey  and  solely  for  the  purpose  of  molesting  the  British 
interests,  is  there  any  one  argument  now  used  to  induce  us  to 
believe  his  present  professions  to  us  which  might  not  have 
been  equally  urged  on  that  occasion  ?  Would  not  those  pro- 
fessions have  been  equally  supported  by  solemn  asseveration, 
by  the  same  reference  which  is  now  made  to  personal  char- 
acter, with  this  single  difference,  that  they  would  have  then 
had  one  instance  less  of  hypocrisy  and  falsehood,  which  we 
have  since  had  occasion  to  trace  in  this  very  transaction  ? 

It  is  unnecessary  to  say  more  with  respect  to  the  credit  due 
to  his  professions  or  the  reliance  to  be  placed  on  his  general 
character.  But  it  will  perhaps  be  argued  that  whatever  may 
be  his  character  or  whatever  has  been  his  past  conduct,  he 
has  now  an  interest  in  making  and  observing  peace.  That 
he  has  an  interest  in  making  peace  is  at  best  but  a  doubtful 
proposition,  and  that  he  has  an  interest  in  preserving  it  is  still 
more  uncertain.  That  it  is  his  interest  to  negotiate  I  do  not 
indeed  deny.  It  is  his  interest,  above  all,  to  engage  this 
country  in  separate  negotiation  in  order  to  loosen  and  dissolve 
the  whole  system  of  the  confederacy  on  the  Continent,  to 


78  WILLIAM    PITT 

palsv  at  once  the  arms  of  Kussia,  or  of  Austria,  or  of  any 
other  country  that  might  look  to  you  for  support ;  and  then 
either  to  break  off  his  separate  treaty,  or,  if  he  should  have 
concluded  it,  to  apply  the  lesson  which  is  taught  in  his  school 
of  policy  in  Eg}npt,  and  to  revive  at  his  pleasure  those  claims 
of  indemnification  which  may  have  been  reserved  to  some 
happier  period. 

This  is  precisely  the  interest  which  he  has  in  negotiation. 
But  on  what  grounds  are  we  to  be  convinced  that  he  has  an 
interest  in  concluding  and  observing  a  solid  and  permanent 
pacification  ?  Under  all  the  circumstances  of  his  personal 
character,  and  his  newly  acquired  power,  w^hat  other  security 
has  he  for  retaining  that  power  but  the  sword  ?  His  hold 
upon  France  is  the  sword,  and  he  has  no  other.  Is  he  con- 
nected with  the  soil,  or  with  the  habits,  the  affections,  or  the 
prejudices  of  the  country  ?  He  is  a  stranger,  a  foreigner,  and 
a  usurper.  He  unites  in  his  own  person  everything  that  a 
pure  republican  must  detest;  everything  that  an  enraged 
Jacobin  has  abjured ;  everything  that  a  sincere  and  faithful 
royalist  must  feel  as  an  insult.  If  he  is  opposed  at  any  time 
in  his  career,  what  is  his  appeal  ?  He  appeals  to  his  fortune ; 
in  other  words,  to  his  army  and  his  sword.  Placing,  then, 
his  whole  reliance  upon  military  support,  can  he  afford  to  let 
his  military  renown  pass  away,  to  let  his  laurels  wither,  to  let 
the  memory  of  his  trophies  sink  in  obscurity  ?  Is  it  certain 
that,  with  his  armv  confined  within  France  and  restrained 
from  inroads  upon  her  neighbors,  he  can  maintain  at 
his  devotion  a  force  sufficiently  numerous  to  support  his 
power?  Having  no  object  but  the  possession  of  absolute 
dominion,  no  passion  but  military  glory,  is  it  to  be  reckoned 
as  certain  that  he  can  feel  such  an  interest  in  permanent  peace 
as  would  justify  us  in  laying  down  our  arms,  reducing  our 


ON    REFUSAL    TO    NEGOTIATE  79 

expense,  and  relinquishing  our  means  of  security,  on  the  faith 
of  his  engagements  ? 

Do  we  believe  that,  after  the  conclusion  of  peace,  he  would 
not  still  sigh  over  the  lost  trophies  of  Egypt,  wrested  from 
him  by  the  celebrated  victory  of  Aboukir  and  the  brilliant 
exertions  of  that  heroic  band  of  British  seamen  whose  influ- 
ence and  example  rendered  the  Turkish  troops  invincible  at 
Acre  ?  Can  he  forget  that  the  effect  of  these  exploits  enabled 
Austria  and  Russia  in  one  campaign  to  recover  from  France 
all  which  she  had  acquired  by  his  victories,  to  dissolve  the 
charm  which  for  a  time  fascinated  Europe,  and  to  show  that 
their  generals,  contending  in  a  just  cause,  could  efface  even 
by  their  success  and  their  military  glory  the  most  dazzling 
triumphs  of  his  victorious  and  desolating  ambition  ? 

Can  we  believe,  with  these  impressions  on  his  mind,  that 
if,  after  a  year,  eighteen  months,  or  two  years  of  peace  had 
elapsed,  he  should  be  tempted  by  the  appearance  of  fresh 
insurrection  in  Ireland,  encouraged  by  renewed  and  unre- 
strained communication  with  France,  and  fomented  by  the 
fresh  infusion  of  Jacobin  principles ;  if  we  were  at  such  a 
moment  without  a  fleet  to  watch  the  ports  of  France  or  to 
guard  the  coasts  of  Ireland,  without  a  disposable  army  or  an 
embodied  militia  capable  of  supplying  a  speedy  and  adequate 
re-enforcement,  and  that  he  had  suddenly  the  means  of  trans- 
porting thither  a  body  of  twenty  or  thirty  thousand  French 
troops;  can  we  believe  that  at  such  a  moment  his  ambition 
and  vindictive  spirit  would  be  restrained  by  the  recollection 
of  engagements  or  the  obligation  of  treaty?  Or  if,  in  some 
new  crisis  of  difiiculty  and  danger  to  the  Ottoman  empire, 
with  no  British  navy  in  the  Mediterranean,  no  confederacy 
formed,  no  force  collected  to  support  it,  an  opportunity  should 
present    itself   for    resuming   the    abandoned   expedition    to 


80  WILLIAM    PITT 

Egypt,  for  renewing  the  avowed  and  favorite  project  of  con- 
quering and  colonizing  that  rich  and  fertile  country,  and  of 
opening  the  way  to  wound  some  of  the  vital  interests,  of  Eng- 
land and  to  plunder  the  treasures  of  the  East  in  order  to  fill 
the  bankrupt  coffers  of  France  ?  Would  it  be  the  interest  of 
Bonaparte  under  such  circumstances,  or  his  principles,  his 
moderation,  his  love  of  peace,  his  aversion  to  conquest,  and 
his  regard  for  the  independence  of  other  nations — would  it 
be  all  or  any  of  these  that  would  secure  us  against  an  attempt 
which  would  leave  us  only  the  option  of  submitting  without  a 
struggle  to  certain  loss  and  disgrace,  or  of  renewing  the  con- 
test which  we  had  prematurely  terminated,  without  allies., 
without  preparation,  with  diminished  means,  and  with  in- 
creased difficulty  and  hazard  ? 

Hitherto  I  have  spoken  only  of  the  reliance  which  we  can 
place  on  the  professions,  the  character,  and  the  conduct  of  the 
present  First  Consul ;  but  it  remains  to  consider  the  stability 
of  his  power.  The  revolution  has  been  marked  throughout  by 
a  rapid  succession  of  new  depositaries  of  public  authority, 
each  supplanting  its  predecessor.  What  grounds  have  we  to 
believe  that  this  new  usurpation,  more  odious  and  more  un- 
disguised than  all  that  preceded  it,  will  be  more  durable  ?  Is 
it  that  we  rely  on  the  particular  provisions  contained  in  the 
code  of  the  pretended  constitution,  which  was  proclaimed  as 
accepted  by  the  French  people  as  soon  as  the  garrison  of  Paris 
declared  their  determination  to  exterminate  all  its  enemies, 
and  before  any  of  its  articles  could  even  be  known  to  half  the 
country  whose  consent  was  required  for  its  establishment  ? 

I  will  not  pretend  to  inquire  deeply  into  the  nature  and 
effects  of  a  constitution  which  can  hardly  be  regarded  but  as 
a  farce  and  a  mockery.  If,  however,  it  could  be  supposed  that 
its  provisions  were  to  have  any  effect,  it  seems  equally  adapted 


ON    REFUSAL    TO    NKGOTlAtE  81 

to  two  purposes,  tliat  of  giving  to  its  founder  for  a  time  an 
absolute  and  uncontrolled  authority,  and  that  of  laying  the 
certain  foundation  of  disunion  and  discord  which,  if  they 
once  prevail,  must  render  the  exercise  of  all  the  authority 
under  the  constitution  impossible  and  leave  no  appeal  but  to 
the  sword. 

Is,  then,  military  despotism  that  which  we  are  accustomed 
to  consider  as  a  stable  form  of  government?  In  all  ages  of 
the  world  it  has  been  attained  with  the  least  stability  to  the 
persons  who  exercised  it,  and  with  the  most  rapid  succession 
of  changes  and  revolutions.  In  the  outset  of  the  French 
revolution  its  advocates  boasted  that  it  furnished  a  security 
forever,  not  to  France  only,  but  to  all  countries  in  the  world, 
against  military  despotism ;  that  the  force  of  standing  ai-mies 
was  vain  and  delusive;  that  no  artificial  power  could  resist 
public  opinion  ;  and  that  it  was  upon  the  foundation  of  public 
opinion  alone  that  any  government  could  stand.  I  believe 
that  in  this  instance,  as  in  every  other,  the  progress  of  the 
French  revolution  has  belied  its  professions ;  but,  so  far  from 
its  being  a  proof  of  the  prevalence  of  public  opinion  against 
military  force,  it  is,  instead  of  the  proof,  the  strongest  excep- 
tion from  that  doctrine  which  appears  in  the  history  of  the 
world. 

Through  all  the  stages  of  the  revolution  military  force  has 
governed  and  public  opinion  has  scarcely  been  heard.  But 
still  I  consider  this  as  only  an  exception  from  a  general  truth. 
I  still  believe  that  in  every  civilized  country  not  enslaved  by  a 
Jacobin  faction  public  opinion  is  the  only  sure  support  of  any 
government.  I  believe  this  with  the  more  satisfaction  from  a 
conviction  that,  if  this  contest  is  happily  terminated,  the  estab- 
lished governments  of  Europe  will  stand  upon  that  rock  firmer 
than  ever ;  and,  whatever  may  be  the  defects  of  any  particular 

Vol.  4—0 


82  -SVILLIAM     PITT 

constitution,  tliose  who  live  under  it  will  prefer  its  contin- 
uance to  the  experiment  of  changes  which  may  plunge  them 
in  the  unfathomable  abyss  of  revolution  or  extricate  them 
from  it  only  to  expose  them  to  the  terrors  of  military  despot- 
ism. And,  to  apply  this  to  France,  I  see  no  reason  to  believe 
that  the  present  usurpation  will  be  more  permanent  than  any 
other  military  despotism  which  has  been  established  by  the 
same  means   and  with  the  same  defiance  of  public  opinion. 

What,  then,  is  the  inference  I  draw  from  all  that  I  have 
now  stated  ?  Is  it  that  we  wall  in  no  case  treat  with  Bona- 
parte ?  I  say  no  such  thing.  But  I  say,  as  has  been  said  in 
the  answer  returned  to  the  French  note,  that  we  ought  to  wait 
for  "  experience  and  the  evidence  of  facts  "  before  we  are  con- 
vinced that  such  a  treaty  is  admissible. 

The  circumstances  I  have  stated  would  well  justify  us  if 
we  should  be  slow  in  being  convinced ;  but  on  a  question  of 
peace  and  war  everything  depends  upon  degree  and  upon 
comparison.  If  on  the  one  hand  there  should  be  an  appear- 
ance that  the  policy  of  France  is  at  length  guided  by  different 
maxims  from  those  which  have  hitherto  prevailed ;  if  we 
should  hereafter  see  signs  of  stability  in  the  government  which 
are  not  now  to  be  traced ;  if  the  progress  of  the  allied  army 
should  not  call  forth  such  a  spirit  in  France  as  to  make  it 
probable  that  the  act  of  the  country  itself  will  destroy  the 
system  now  prevailing;  if  the  danger,  the  difficulty,  the  risk 
of  continuing  the  contest  should  increase,  while  the  hope  of 
complete  ultimate  success  should  be  diminished ;  all  these  in 
their  due  place  are  considerations  which,  with  myself  and,  I 
can  answer  for  it,  with  every  one  of  my  colleagues,  will  have 
their  just  weight. 

But  at  present  these  considerations  all  operate  one  way ;  at 
present  there  is  nothing  from  which  we  can  presage  a  favor- 


ON    REFUSAL    TO    NEGOTIATE  83 

able  disposition  to  cliange  in  the  French  councils.  There  is 
the  greatest  reason  to  rely  on  powerful  co-operation  from  our 
allies;  there  are  the  strongest  marks  of  a  disposition  in  the 
interior  of  France  to  active  resistance  against  this  new  tyran- 
ny; and  there  is  every  ground  to  believe,  on  reviewing  our 
situation  and  that  of  the  enemy,  that,  if  we  are  ultimately  dis- 
appointed of  that  complete  success  which  we  are  at  present 
entitled  to  hope,  the  continuance  of  the  contest,  instead  of 
making  our  situation  comparatively  worse,  will  have  made  it 
comparatively  better. 

If,  then,  I  am  asked  how  long  are  we  to  persevere  in  the 
war,  I  can  only  say  that  no  period  can  be  accurately  assigned. 
Considering  the  importance  of  obtaining  complete  security 
for  the  objects  for  which  we  contend,  we  ought  not  to  be  dis- 
couraged too  soon;  but,  on  the  contrary,  considering  the  im- 
portance of  not  impairing  and  exhausting  the  radical  strength 
of  the  country,  there  are  limits  beyond  which  we  ought  not 
to  persist,  and  which  we  can  determine  only  by  estimating 
and  comparing  fairly  from  time  to  time  the  degree  of  secur- 
ity to  be  obtained  by  treaty,  and  the  risk  and  disadvantage 
of  continuing  the  contest. 

But,  sir,  there  are  some  gentlemen  in  the  House  who  seem 
to  consider  it  already  certain  that  the  ultimate  success  to 
which  I  am  looking  is  unattainable.  They  suppose  us  con- 
tending only  for  the  restoration  of  the  French  monarchy, 
which  they  believe  to  be  impracticable,  and  deny  to  be  desir- 
able for  this  country.  We  have  been  asked  in  the  course  of 
this  debate:  Do  you  think  you  can  impose  monarchy  upon 
France  against  the  will  of  the  nation?  I  never  thought  it, 
I  never  hoped  it,  I  never  wished  it.  I  have  thought,  I  have 
hoped,  I  have  wished,  that  the  time  might  come  when  the 
effect  of  the  arms  of  the  allies  might  so  far  overpower  the 


84  WILLIAM    PITT 

military  force    which  keeps  France  in  bondage    as  to  give 
vent  and  scope  to  the  thoughts  and  actions  of  its  inhabitants. 

We  have  indeed  already  seen  abundant  proof  of  what  is 
the  disposition  of  a  large  part  of  the  country;  we  have  seen 
almost  through  the  whole  of  the  revolution  the  western 
provinces  of  France  deluged  with  the  blood  of  its  inhabitants, 
obstinately  contending  for  their  ancient  laws  and  religion. 
We  have  recently  seen,  in  the  revival  of  that  war,  fresh  proof 
of  the  zeal  which  still  animates  those  countries  in  the  same 
cause.  These  efforts  (I  state  it  distinctly,  and  there  are  those 
near  me  who  can  bear  witness  to  the  truth  of  the  assertion) 
were  not  produced  by  any  instigation  from  hence;  they  were 
the  effects  of  a  rooted  sentiment  prevailing  through  all  those 
provinces  forced  into  action  by  the  "  law  of  the  hostages  " 
and  the  other  tyrannical  measures  of  the  Directory,  at  the 
moment  when  we  were  endeavoring  to  discourage  so  hazardous 
an  enterprise. 

If  under  such  circumstances  we  find  them  giving  proofs 
of  their  unalterable  perseverance  in  their  principles;  if  there 
is  every  reason  to  believe  that  the  same  disposition  prevails 
in  many  other  extensive  provinces  of  France;  if  every  party 
appears  at  length  equally  wearied  and  disappointed  with  all 
the  successive  changes  which  the  revolution  has  produced;  if 
the  question  is  no  longer  between  monarchy,  and  even  the 
pretence  and  name  of  liberty,  but  between  the  ancient  line 
of  hereditary  princes  on  the  one  hand,  and  a  military  tyrant, 
a  foreign  usurper,  on  the  other;  if  the  armies  of  that  usurper 
are  likely  to  find  sufficient  occupation  on  the  frontiers,  and 
to  be  forced  at  length  to  leave  the  interior  of  the  country 
at  liberty  to  manifest  its  real  feeling  and  disposition;  what 
reason  have  we  to  anticipate  that  the  restoration  of  monarchy 
under  such  circumstances  is  impracticable? 


ON    REFUSAL   TO    NEGOTIATE 


85 


The  learned  gentleman  has  indeed  told  us  that  almost 
every  man  now  possessed  of  property  in  France  must  neces- 
sarily be  interested  in  resisting  such  a  change,  and  that  there- 
fore it  never  can  be  effected.  If  that  single  consideration 
were  conclusive  against  the  possibility  of  a  change,  for  the 
same  reason  the  revolution  itself,  by  which  the  whole  prop- 
erty of  the  country  was  taken  from  its  ancient  possessors, 
could  never  have  taken  place.  But  though  I  deny  it  to  be 
an  insuperable  obstacle,  I  admit  it  to  be  a  point  of  consider- 
able delicacy  and  diificulty.  It  is  not  indeed  for  us  to  dis- 
cuss minutely  what  arrangement  might  be  formed  on  this 
point  to  conciliate  and  unite  opposite  interests. 

But  whoever  considers  the  precarious  tenure  and  depreciated 
value  of  lands  held  under  the  revolutionary  title,  and  the  low 
price  for  which  they  have  generally  been  obtained,  will  think 
it  perhaps  not  impossible  that  an  ample  compensation  might 
be  made  to  the  bulk  of  the  present  possessors,  both  for  the 
purchase-money  they  have  paid  and  for  the  actual  value  of 
what  they  now  enjoy;  and  that  the  ancient  proprietors  might 
be  reinstated  in  the  possession  of  their  former  rights  with 
only  such  a  temporary  sacrifice  as  reasonable  men  would 
willingly  make  to  obtain  so  essential  an  object, . 

The  honorable  and  learned  gentleman,  however,  has  sup- 
ported his  reasoning  on  this  part  of  the  subject  by  an  argu- 
ment which  he  undoubtedly  considers  as  unanswerable — a 
reference  to  what  would  be  his  own  conduct  in  similar  circum- 
stances ;  and  he  tells  us  that  every  landed  proprietor  in  France 
must  support  the  present  order  of  things  in  that  country  from 
the  same  motive  that  he  and  every  proprietor  of  three-per- 
cent stock  would  join  in  the  defence  of  the  constitution  of 
Great  Britain. 

I  must  do  the  learned  gentleman  the  justice  to  believe  that 


86  WILLIAM    PITT 

the  habits  of  his  profession  mtist  supply  him  with  better  and 
nobler  motives  for  defending  a  constitution  which  he  has  had 
so  much  occasion  to  study  and  examine  than  any  he  can  de- 
rive from  the  value  of  his  proportion,  however  large,  of  three- 
per-cents,  even  supposing  them  to  continue  to  increase  in  price 
as  rapidly  as  they  have  done  during  the  last  three  years,  in 
which  the  security  and  prosperity  of  the  country  has  been 
established  by  following  a  system  directly  opposite  to  the 
counsels  of  the  learned  gentleman  and  his  friends. 

The  learned  gentleman's  illustration,  however,  though  it 
fails  with  respect  to  himself,  is  happily  and  aptly  applied  to 
the  state  of  France;  and  let  us  see  what  inference  it  furnishes 
with  respect  to  the  probable  attachment  of  moneyed  men  to 
the  continuance  of  the  revolutionary  system,  as  well  as  with 
respect  to  the  general  state  of  public  credit  in  that  country? 

I  do  not  indeed  know  that  there  exists  precisely  any  fund 
of  three-per-cents  in  France  to  furnish  a  test  for  the  patriotism 
and  public  spirit  of  the  lovers  of  French  liberty.  But  there  is 
another  fund  which  may  equally  answer  our  purpose.  The 
capital  of  three-per-cent  stock  which  formerly  existed  in 
France  has  undergone  a  whimsical  operation,  similar  to  many 
other  expedients  of  finance  which  we  have  seen  in  the  course 
of  the  revolution.  This  was  performed  by  a  decree  which,  as 
they  termed  it,  ''  republicanized  "  their  debt ;  that  is,  in  other 
words,  struck  off  at  once  two  thirds  of  the  capital  and  left  the 
proprietors  to  take  their  chance  for  the  payment  of  interest  on 
the  remainder.  This  remnant  was  afterward  converted  into 
the  present  five-per-cent  stock. 

I  had  the  curiosity  very  lately  to  inquire  what  price  it  bore 
in  the  market,  and  I  was  told  that  the  price  had  somewhat 
risen  from  confidence  in  the  new  government  and  was  actu- 
ally as  high  as  seventeen.     I  really  at  first  supposed  that  my 


ox    REFUSAL    TO    NEGOTIATB  87 

informer  meant  seventeen  years'  purchase  for  every  poimd  of 
interest,  and  I  began  to  be  almost  jealous  of  revolutionary 
credit;  but  I  soon  found  that  he  literally  meant  seventeen 
pounds  for  every  hundred  pounds  capital  stock  of  five  per 
cent ;  that  is  a  little  more  than  three  and  a  half  years'  pur- 
chase. So  much  for  the  value  of  revolutionary  property  and 
for  the  attachment  with  which  it  must  inspire  its  possessors 
toward  the  system  of  government  to  which  that  value  is  to 
be  ascribed. 

On  the  question,  sir,  how  far  the  restoration  of  the  French 
monarchy,  if  practicable,  is  desirable,  I  shall  not  think  it 
necessary  to  say  much.  Can  it  be  supposed  to  be  indifferent 
to  us  or  to  the  world  whether  the  throne  of  France  is  to  be 
filled  by  a  prince  of  the  house  of  Bourbon  or  by  him  whose 
principles  and  conduct  I  have  endeavored  to  develop?  Is  it 
nothing,  with  a  view  to  influence  and  example,  whether  the 
fortune  of  this  last  adventurer  in  the  lottery  of  revolutions 
shall  appear  to  be  permanent?  Is  it  nothing  whether  a  sys- 
tem shall  be  sanctioned  which  confirms,  by  one  of  its  funda- 
mental articles,  that  general  transfer  of  property  from  its 
ancient  and  lawful  possessors,  which  holds  out  one  of  the  most 
terrible  examples  of  national  injustice,  and  which  has  fur- 
nished the  great  source  of  revolutionary  finance  and  revolu- 
tionary strength  against  all  the  powers  of  Europe? 

In  the  exhausted  and  impoverished  state  of  France  it  seems 
for  a  time  impossible  that  any  system  but  that  of  robbery  and 
confiscation,  anything  but  the  continued  torture  which  can  be 
applied  only  by  the  engines  of  the  revolution,  can  extort  from 
its  ruined  inhabitants  more  than  the  means  of  supporting  in 
peace  the  yearly  expenditure  of  its  government.  Suppose, 
then,  the  heir  of  the  houseof  Bourbon  reinstated  on  the  throne, 
he  will  have  sufficient  occupation  in  endeavoring,  if  possible, 


88  WILLIAM    PITT 

to  heal  the  wounds  and  gradually  to  repair  the  losses  of  ten 
years  of  civil  convulsion ;  to  reanimate  the  drooping  commerce, 
to  rekindle  the  industry,  to  replace  the  capital,  and  to  revive 
the  manufactures  of  the  country. 

Under  such  circumstances  there  must  probably  be  a  con- 
siderable interval  before  such  a  monarch,  whatever  may  be  his 
views,  can  possess  the  power  which  can  make  him  formidable 
to  Europe ;  but  while  the  system  of  the  revolution  continues 
the  case  is  quite  different.  It  is  true  indeed  that  even  the 
gigantic  and  unnatural  means  by  which  that  revolution  has 
been  supported  are  so  far  impaired,  the  influence  of  its  prin- 
ciples and  the  terror  of  its  arms  so  far  weakened,  and  its  power 
of  action  so  much  contracted  and  circumscribed,  that  against 
the  embodied  force  of  Europe,  prosecuting  a  vigorous  war,  we 
may  justly  hope  that  the  remnant  and  wreck  of  this  system 
cannot  long  oppose  an  effectual  resistance. 

But,  supposing  the  confederacy  of  Europe  prematurely  dis- 
solvedj  supposing  our  armies  disbanded,  our  fleets  laid  up  in 
our  harbors,  our  exertions  relaxed,  and  our  means  of  precau- 
tion and  defence  relinquished;  do  we  believe  that  the  revolu- 
tionary power,  with  this  rest  and  breathing-time  given  it  to 
recover  from  the  pressure  under  which  it  is  now  sinking,  pos- 
sessing still  the  means  of  calling  suddenly  and  violently  into 
action  whatever  is  the  remaining  physical  force  of  France, 
under  the  guidance  of  military  despotism ;  do  we  believe  that 
this  revolutionary  power,  the  terror  of  which  is  now  beginning 
to  vanish,  will  not  again  prove  formidable  to  Europe  ? 

Can  we  forget  that  in  the  ten  years  in  which  that  power  has 
subsisted  it  has  brought  more  misery  on  surrounding  nations 
and  produced  more  acts  of  aggression,  cruelty,  perfidy,  and 
enormous  ambition  than  can  be  traced  in  the  history  of  France 
for  the  centuries  which  have  elapsed  since  the  foundation  of 


ON    KEFU8AL    TO    NEGOTIATH  89 

its  monarchy,  including  all  the  wars  which  in  the  course  of 
that  period  have  been  waged  by  any  of  those  sovereigns  whose 
projects  of  aggrandizement  and  violations  of  treaty  afford  a 
constant  theme  of  general  reproach  against  the  ancient  gov- 
ernment of  France?  And  if  not,  can  we  hesitate  whether  we 
have  the  best  prospect  of  permanent  peace,  the  best  security 
for  the  independence  and  safety  of  Europe,  from  the  restora- 
tion of  the  lawful  government  or  from  the  continuance  of 
revolutionary  power  in  the  hands  of  Bonaparte? 

In  compromise  and  treaty  with  such  a  power,  placed  in  such 
hands  as  now  exercise  it,  and  retaining  the  same  means  of  an- 
noyance which  it  now  possesses,  I  see  little  hope  of  permanent 
security.  I  see  no  possibility  at  this  moment  of  such  a  peace 
as  would  justify  that  liberal  intercourse  which  is  the  essence 
of  real  amity;  no  chance  of  terminating  the  expenses  or  the 
anxieties  of  war,  or  of  restoring  to  us  any  of  the  advantages 
of  established  tranquillity;  and,  as  a  sincere  lover  of  peace, 
I  cannot  be  content  with  its  nominal  attainment.  I  must  be 
desirous  of  pursuing  that  system  which  promises  to  attain  in 
the  end  the  permanent  enjoyment  of  its  solid  and  substantial 
blessings  for  this  country  and  for  Europe.  As  a  sincere  lover 
of  peace  I  will  not  sacrifice  it  by  grasping  at  the  shadow  when 
the  reality  is  not  substantially  within  my  reach. 

"  Cur  igitur  pacem  nolo  ?  Quia  infida  est,  quia  perieulosa, 
quia  esse  non  potest."^ 

If,  sir,  in  all  that  I  have  now  offered  to  the  House,  I  have 
succeeded  in  establishing  the  proposition  that  the  system  of 
the  French  Revolution  has  been  such  as  to  afford  to  foreign 
powers  no  adequate  ground  for  security  in  negotiation,  and 
that  the  change  which  has  recently  taken  place  has  not  yet 


'"  Why,  then,  am  I  against  peace?      Because  It  Is  faithless,  because  it  is 
dangerous,  because  It  cannot  be  maintained." 


90  WILLIAM    PITT 

afforded  that  security;  if  I  have  laid  before  joii  a  just  state- 
ment of  the  nature  and  extent  of  the  danger  with  which  we 
have  been  threatened,  it  would  remain  only  shortly  to  con- 
sider whether  there  is  anything  in  the  circumstances  of  the 
present  moment  to  induce  us  to  accept  a  security  confessedly 
inadequate  against  a  danger  of  such  a  description. 

It  will  be  necessary  here  to  say  a  few  words  on  the  subject 
on  which  gentlemen  have  been  so  fond  of  dw^elling,  I  mean 
our  former  negotiations,  and  particularly  that  at  Lisle  in 
1797.  I  am  desirous  of  stating  frankly  and  openly  the  true 
motives  which  induced  me  to  concur  in  then  recommending 
negO'tiation ;  and  I  will  leave  it  to  the  House  and  to  the  coun- 
try to  judge  whether  our  conduct  at  that  time  was  inconsist- 
ent with  the  principles  by  which  we  are  guided  at  present. 

That  revolutionary  policy  which  I  have  endeavored  to  de- 
scribe, that  gigantic  system  of  prodigality  and  bloodshed  by 
which  the  efforts  of  France  were  supported,  and  which  counts 
for  nothing  the  lives  and  the  property  of  a  nation,  had  at  that 
period  driven  us  to  exertions  which  had  in  a  great  measure 
exhausted  the  ordinary  means  of  defraying  our  immense  ex- 
penditure, and  had  led  many  of  those  who  were  the  most  con- 
vinced of  the  original  justice  and  necessity  of  the  war,  and  of 
the  danger  of  Jacobin  principles,  to  doubt  the  possibility  of 
persisting  in  it  till  complete  and  adequate  security  could  be 
obtained. 

There  seemed,  too,  much  reason  to  believe  that  without 
some  new  measure  to  check  the  rapid  accumulation  of  debt 
we  could  no  longer  trust  to  the  stability  of  that  funding  sys- 
tem by  which  the  nation  had  been  enabled  to  support  the 
expense  of  all  the  different  wars  in  which  we  have  engaged 
in  the  course  of  the  present  century.  In  order  to  continue 
our  exertions  with  vigor  it  became  necessary  that  a  new  and 


ON    REFUSAL   TO    NEGOTIATE 


91 


solid  system  of  finance  should  be  established,  such  as  could 
not  be  rendered  effectual  but  by  the  general  and  decided  con- 
currence of  public  opinion.  Such  a  concurrence  in  the  strong 
and  vigorous  measures  necessary  for  the  purpose  could  not 
then  be  expected  but  from  satisfying  the  country,  by  the 
strongest  and  most  decided  proofs,  that  peace,  on  temis  in 
any  degree  admissible,  was  unattainable. 

Under  tliis  impression  we  thought  it  our  duty  to  attempt 
negotiation,  not  from  the  sanguine  hope,  even  at  that  time, 
that  its  result  could  afford  us  complete  security,  but  from  the 
persuasion  that  the  danger  arising  from  peace  under  such 
circumstances  was  less  than  that  of  continuing  the  war  with 
precarious  and  inadequate  means.  The  result  of  those  nego- 
tiations proved  that  the  enemy  would  be  satisfied  with  nothing 
less  than  the  sacrifice  of  the  honor  and  independence  of  the 
country.  From  this  conviction  a  spirit  and  enthusiasm  was 
excited  in  the  nation  which  produced  the  efforts  to  which  we 
are  indebted  for  the  subsequent  change  in  our  situation. 
Having  witnessed  that  happy  change,  having  observed  the 
increasing  prosperity  and  security  of  the  country  from  that 
period,  seeing  how  much  more  satisfactory  our  prospects  now 
are  than  any  which  we  could  then  have  derived  from  the 
successful  result  of  negotiation,  I  have  not  scrupled  to  de- 
clare that  I  consider  the  rupture  of  the  negotiation,  on  the 
part  of  the  enemy,  as  a  fortunate  circumstance  for  the  coun- 
try. But  because  these  are  my  sentiments  at  this  time,  after 
reviewing  what  has  since  passed,  does  it  follow  that  we  were 
at  that  time  insincere  in  endeavoring  to  obtain  peace?  The 
learned  gentleman  indeed  assumes  that  we  were,  and  he  even 
makes  a  concession  of  which  I  desire  not  to  claim  the  benefit. 
He  is  willing  to  admit  that,  on  our  principles  and  our  view  of 
the  subject,  insincerity  would  have  been  justifiable. 


92  WILLIAM     PITT 

I  know,  sir,  no  plea  that  would  justify  those  who  are  en- 
trusted with  the  conduct  of  public  aiTairs  in  holding  out  to 
Parliament  and  to  the  nation  one  object  while  they  were  in 
fact  pursuing  another.  I  did  in  fact  believe,  at  the  moment, 
the  conclusion  of  peace,  if  it  could  have  been  obtained,  to  be 
preferable  to  the  continuance  of  the  war  under  its  increasing 
risks  and  difficulties.  I  therefore  wished  for  peace;  I  sin- 
cerely labored  for  peace.  Our  endeavors  were  frustrated  by 
the  act  of  the  enemy.  If,  then,  the  circumstances  are  since 
changed;  if  what  passed  at  that  period  has  afforded  a  proof 
that  the  objeot  we  aimed  at  was  unattainable;  and  if  all  that 
has  passed  since  has  proved  that,  provided  peace  had  been 
then  made,  it  could  not  have  been  durable,  are  we  bound  to 
repeat  the  same  experiment  when  every  reason  against  it  is 
strengthened  by  subsequent  experience  and  when  the  induce- 
ments which  led  to  it  at  that  time  have  ceased  to  exist  ? 

When  we  consider  the  resources  and  the  spirit  of  the  coun- 
try, can  any  man  doubt  that  if  adequate  security  is  not  now 
to  be  obtained  by  treaty  we  have  the  means  of  prosecut- 
ing the  contest  with  material  difficulty  or  danger  and 
with  a  reasonable  prospect  of  completely  attaining  our 
object  ? 

I  will  not  dwell  on  the  improved  state  of  public  credit;  on 
the  continually  increasing  amount,  in  spite  of  extraordinary 
temporary  burdens,  of  our  permanent  revenue ;  on  the  yearly 
accession  of  w^ealth  to  an  extent  unprecedented  even  in  the 
most  flourishing  times  of  peace,  which  we  are  deriving,  in  the 
midst  of  war,  from  our  extended  and  flourishing  commerce; 
on  the  progressive  improvement  and  growth  of  our  manufac- 
tures ;  on  the  proofs  which  we  see  on  all  sides  of  the  uninter- 
rupted accumulation  of  productive  capital ;  and  on  the  active 
exertion  of  every  branch  of  national  industry  which  can  tend 


ON   REFUSAL    TO    NEGOTIATE  93 

to  support  and  augment  the  population,  the  riches,  and  the 
power  of  the  country? 

As  little  need  I  recall  the  attention  of  the  House  to  the 
additional  means  of  action  which  we  have  derived  from  the 
great  augmentation  of  our  disposable  military  force,  the  con- 
tinued triumphs  of  our  powerful  and  victorious  navy,  and 
the  events  which,  in  the  course  of  the  last  two  years  have 
raised  the  mifitary  ardor  and  military  glory  of  the  country  to 
a  height  unexampled  in  any  period  of  our  history. 

In  addition  to  these  grounds  of  reliance  on  our  own 
strength  and  exertions  we  have  seen  the  consummate  skill 
and  valor  of  the  arms  of  our  allies  proved  by  that  series  of 
unexampled  success  in  the  course  of  the  last  campaign,  and 
we  have  every  reason  to  expect  a  co-operation  on  the  Conti- 
nent, even  to  a  greater  extent,  in  the  course  of  the  present 
year.  If  we  compare  this  view  of  our  own  situation  with 
everything  we  can  observe  of  the  state  and  condition  of  our 
enemy;  if  we  can  trace  him  laboring  under  equal  difficulty 
in  finding  men  to  recruit  his  army  or  money  to  pay  it ;  if  we 
know  that  in  the  course  of  the  last  year  the  most  rigorous 
efforts  of  military  conscription  were  scarcely  sufficient  to 
replace  to  the  French  armies,  at  the  end  of  the  eampaign,  the 
numbers  which  they  had  lost  in  the  course  of  it ;  if  we  have 
seen  that  that  force,  then  in  possession  of  advantages  which 
it  has  since  lost,  was  unable  to  contend  with  the  efforts  of 
the  combined  armies ;  if  we  know  that,  even  while  supported 
by  the  plunder  of  all  the  countries  which  they  had  overrun, 
those  armies  were  reduced,  by  the  confession  of  their  com- 
manders, to  the  extremity  of  distress,  and  destitute  not  only 
of  the  principal  articles  of  military  supply,  but  almost  of  the 
necessaries  of  life ;  if  we  see  them  now  driven  back  within 
their  own  frontiers,  and  confined  within  a  country  whose 


94  WILLIAM    PITT 

own  resources  have  long  since  been  proclaimed  by  their  suc- 
cessive governments  to  be  unequal  either  to  paying  or  main- 
taining them ;  if  we  observe  that  since  the  last  revolution  no 
one  substantial  or  effectual  measure  has  been  adopted  to  rem- 
edy the  intolerable  disorder  of  their  finances  and  to  supply 
the  deficiency  of  their  credit  and  resources ;  if  we  see,  through 
large  and  populous  districts  of  France,  either  open  war  levied 
against  the  present  usurpation,  or  evident  marks  of  disunion 
and  distraction  which  the  first  occasion  may  call  forth  into  a 
flame,  if,  I  say,  sir,  this  comparison  be  just,  I  feel  myself 
authorized  to  conclude  from  it,  not  that  wc  are  entitled  to 
consider  ourselves  certain  of  ultimate  success,  not  that  we 
are  to  suppose  ourselves  exempted  from  the  unforeseen  vicis- 
situdes of  war;  but  that,  considering  the  value  of  the  object 
for  which  we  are  contending,  the  means  for  supporting  the 
contest,  and  the  probable  course  of  human  events,  we  should 
be  inexcusable  if  at  this  moment  we  were  to  relinquish  the 
struggle  on  any  grounds  short  of  entire  and  complete  se- 
curity ;  that  from  perseverance  in  our  efforts  under  such  cir- 
cumstances we  have  the  fairest  reason  to  expect  the  full 
attainment  of  our  object;  but  that  at  all  events,  even  if  we 
are  disappointed  in  our  more  sanguine  hopes,  we  are  more 
likely  to  gain  than  to  lose  by  the  continuation  of  the  contest; 
that  every  month  to  which  it  is  continued,  even  if  it  should 
not  in  its  effects  lead  to  the  final  destruction  of  the  Jacobin 
system,  must  tend  so  far  to  weaken  and  exhaust  it  as  to  give 
us  at  least  a  greater  comparative  security  in  any  termination 
of  the  war;  that  on  all  these  grounds  this  is  not  the  moment 
at  which  it  is  consistent  ^\'ith  our  interest  or  our  duty  to  listen 
to  any  proposals  of  negotiation  with  the  present  ruler  of 
France;  but  that  we  are  not  therefore  pledged  to  any  unal- 
terable determination  as  to  our  future  conduct;  that  in  this 


ON    REFUSAL    TO    NEGOTIATE  95 

we  must  be  regulated  by  the  course  of  events;  and  that  it 
will  be  the  duty  of  his  Majesty's  ministers  from  time  to  time 
to  adapt  their  measures  to  any  variation  of  circumstances,  to 
consider  how  far  the  effects  of  the  military  operations  of  the 
allies  or  of  the  internal  disposition  of  France  correspond  with 
our  present  expectations,  and,  on  a  view  of  the  whole,  to 
compare  the  difficulties  or  risks  which  may  arise  in  the  prose- 
cution of  the  contest  with  the  prospect  of  ultimate  success 
or  of  the  degree  of  advantage  to  be  derived  from  its  further 
continuance,  and  to  be  governed  by  the  result  of  all  these 
considerations  in  the  opinion  and  advice  which  they  may 
offer  to  their  sovereign. 


WTLBERFORCE 

SILLIAM  WiLBERFORCE,  English  gtatesman  and  philanthropist,  distin- 
guished by  his  memorable  opposition  to  the  Slave  trade,  was  born  at 
Hull,  England,  Aug.  24,  1759,  and  died  at  London,  July  29,  1833. 
He  was  descended  from  a  Yorkshire  family  that  had  possessed  ances- 
tral estates  in  the  East  Riding  of  Yorkshire  from  the  time  of  Henry  II  to  the  middle 
ef  the  eighteenth  century.  In  1776,  he  entered  St.  .John's  College,  Cambridge,  where 
he  devoted  himself  chiefly  to  the  classics  and  graduated  with  credit.  In  1780,  he  be- 
came a  member  of  the  House  of  Commons,  and  three  years  later  was  of  great  service  to 
William  Pitt  in  the  latter's  struggle  against  the  majority  of  the  House.  About  1787 
he  made  the  acquaintance  of  Thomas  Clarkson,  and  began  an  agitation  against  the  in- 
iquitous Slave  trade.  In  April,  1792,  he  carried  a  motion  for  the  gradual  suppression 
of  the  traffic  by  238  to  85  votes;  but  owing  to  the  opposition  of  the  House  of  Lords,  the 
abolition  of  the  Slave  trade  was  not  accomplished  until  1807.  When  the  Society  for  the 
Abolition  of  Slavery  in  the  British  Possessions  was  formed,  in  1823,  Wilberforce  be- 
came a  vice-president  of  the  society.  He  retired  from  Parliament  in  1825,  and  died  a 
month  before  the  Emancipation  Bill  was  finally  passed,  and  was  honored  by  a  burial  in 
Westminster  Abbey. 


HORRORS  OF  THE   BRITISH    SLAVE   TRADE   IN  THE 
EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY 

SPEECH  DELIVERED  IN  PARLIAMENT.  MAY  12,  1789 

IN  OPENING,  concerning  the  nature  of  the  slave  trade, 
I  need  only  observe  that  it  is  found  by  experience  to 

be  just  such  as  every  man  who  uses  his  reason  would 
infallibly  conclude  it  to  be.  For  my  own  part,  so  clearly 
am  I  convinced  of  the  mischiefs  inseparable  from  it,  that 
I  should  hardly  want  any  further  evidence  than  my  own 
mind  would  furnish,  by  the  most  simple  deductions. 
Facts,  however,  are  now  laid  before  the  House.  A  re- 
port has  been  made  by  his  Majesty's  Privy  Council,  which, 

(98) 


THE  BRITISH  SLAVE  TRADE  97 

I  trust,  every  gentleman  has  read,  and  Avbich  ascertains 
the  slave  trade  to  be  just  such  in  practice  as  we  know, 
from  theory,  it  must  be.  What  should  we  suppose  must 
naturally  be  the  consequence  of  our  carrying  on  a  slave 
trade  with  Africa  ?  With  a  country  vast  in  its  extent,  not 
utterly  barbarous,  but  civilized  in  a  very  small  degree  ? 
Does  any  one  suppose  a  slave  trade  would  help  their 
civilization  ?  Is  it  not  plain  that  she  must  suffer  from  it  ? 
That  civilization  must  be  checked ;  that  her  barbarous 
manners  must  be  made  more  barbarous;  and  that  the  hap- 
piness of  her  millions  of  inhabitants  must  be  prejudiced 
with  her  intercourse  with  Britain  ?  Does  not  every  one 
see  that  a  slave  trade  carried  on  around  her  coasts  must 
carry  violence  and  desolation  to  her  very  centre  ?  That  in 
a  continent  just  emerging  from  barbarism,  if  a  trade  in  men 
is  established,  if  her  men  are  all  converted  into  goods,  and 
become  commodities  that  can  be  bartered,  it  follows  they 
must  be  subject  to  ravage  just  as  goods  are ;  and  this,  too, 
at  a  period  of  civilization,  when  there  is  no  protecting 
legislature  to  defend  this  their  only  sort  of  property,  in 
the  same  manner  as  the  rights  of  property  are  maintained 
by  the  legislature  of  every  civilized  country.  We  see  then, 
in  the  nature  of  things,  how  easily  the  practices  of  Africa 
are  to  be  accounted  for.  Her  kmgs  are  never  compelled 
to  war,  that  we  can  hear  of,  by  public  principles,  by 
national  glory,  still  less  by  the  love  of  their  people.  In 
Europe  it  is  the  extension  of  commerce,  the  maintenance 
of  national  honor,  or  some  great  public  object,  that  is  ever 
the  motive  to  war  with  every  monarch ;  but,  in  Africa, 
it  is  the  personal  avarice  and  sensuality  of  their  kings ; 
these  two  vices  of  avarice  and  sensuality,  the  most  power- 
ful and  predominant  in  natures  thus  corrupt,   we  tempt. 

Vol.  4-7 


98  WILLIAM    WILBERFORCE 

we  stimulate  in  all  these  African  princes,  and  we  depend 
upon  these  vices  for  the  very  maintenance  of  the  slave 
trade.  Does  the  king  of  Barbessin  want  brandy?  he  has 
only  to  send  his  troops,  in  the  night-time,  to  burn  and 
desolate  a  village;  the  captives  will  serve  as  commodities, 
that  may  be  bartered  with  the  British  trader.  What  a 
striking  view  of  the  wretched  state  of  Africa  does  the 
tragedy  of  Calabar  furnish!  Two  towns,  formerly  hostile, 
had  settled  their  differences,  and  by  an  intermarriage  among 
their  chiefs,  had  each  pledged  themselves  to  peace;  but 
the  trade  in  slaves  was  prejudiced  by  such  pacifications, 
and  it  became,  therefore,  the  policy  of  our  traders  to  re- 
new the  hostilities.  This,  their  policy,  was  soon  put  in 
practice,  and  the  scene  of  carnage  which  followed  was 
such,  that  it  is  better,  perhaps,  to  refer  gentlemen  to  the 
Privy  Council's  report  than  to  agitate  their  minds  by 
dwelling  on  it. 

The  slave  trade,  in  its  very  nature,  is  the  source  of 
such  kind  of  tragedies;  nor  has  there  been  a  single  person, 
almost,  before  the  Privy  Council,  who  does  not  add  some- 
thing by  his  testimony  to  the  mass  of  evidence  upon  this 
point.  Some,  indeed,  of  these  gentlemen,  and  particularly 
the  delegates  from  Liverpool,  have  endeavored  to  reason 
down  this  plain  principle:  some  have  palliated  it;  but 
there  is  not  one,  I  believe,  who  does  not  more  or  less 
admit  it.  Some,  nay  most,  I  believe,  have  admitted  the 
slave  trade  to  be  the  chief  cause  of  wars  in  Africa.  .  .  . 

Having  now  disposed  of  the  first  part  of  this  subject, 
I  must  speak  of  the  transit  of  the  slaves  to  the  West 
Indies.  This,  I  confess,  in  my  own  opinion,  is  the  most 
wretched  part  of  the  whole  subject.  So  much  misery  con- 
densed in  so  little  room  is  more  than  the  human  imagina- 


THE    BRITISH    SLAVE    TRADE  99 

tion  had  ever  before  conceived.  I  will  not  accuse  ihe 
Liverpool  merchants;  I  will  allow  them,  nay,  1  will  be- 
lieve them,  to  be  men  of  humanity;  and  1  will  therefore 
believe,  if  it  were  not  for  the  multitude  of  these  wretched 
objects,  if  it  were  not  for  the  enormous  magnitude  and  ex- 
tent of  the  evil  which  distracts  their  attention  from  indi- 
vidual cases,  and  makes  them  think  generally,  and  there- 
fore less  feelingly  on  the  subject,  they  never  would  have 
persisted  in  the  trade.  1  verily  believe,  therefore,  if  the 
wretchedness  of  any  one  of  the  many  hundred  negroes 
stowed  in  each  ship  could  be  brought  before  their  view, 
and  remain  within  the  sight  of  the  African  merchant,  that 
there  is  no  one  among  them  whose  heart  would  bear  it. 
Let  any  one  imagine  to  himself  six  or  seven  hundred  of 
these  wretches  chained  two  and  two,  surrounded  with 
every  object  that  is  nauseous  and  disgusting,  diseased, 
and  struggling  under  every  kind  of  wretchedness!  How 
can  we  bear  to  think  of  such  a  scene  as  this?  One  would 
think  it  had  been  determind  to  heap  on  them  all  the  vari- 
eties of  bodily  pain,  for  the  purpose  of  blunting  the  feel- 
ings of  the  mind;  and  yet,  in  this  very  point  (to  show  the 
power  of  human  prejudice),  the  situation  of  the  slaves  has 
been  described  by  Mr,  Norris,  one  of  the  Liverpool  dele- 
gates, in  a  manner  which  I  am  sure  will  convince  the 
House  how  interest  can  draw  a  film  over  the  eyes,  so 
thick  that  total  blindness  could  do  no  more;  and  how 
it  is  our  duty  therefore  to  trust  not  to  the  reasonings  of 
interested  men,  or  to  their  way  of  coloring  a  transaction. 

"Their  apartments,"  says  Mr.  Norris,  "are  fitted  up 
as  much  for  their  advantage  as  circumstances  will  admit. 
The  right  ankle  of  one,  indeed,  is  connected  with  the  left 
ankle  of  another  by  a  small   iron  fetter,  and  if  they  are 


100  WILLIAM  WILBERFORCE 

turbulent,  by  another  on  their  wrists.  They  have  several 
meals  a  day ;  some  of  their  own  country  provisions,  with 
the  best  sauces  of  African  cookery;  and  by  the  way  of 
variety,  another  meal  of  pulse,  etc.,  according  to  Euro- 
pean taste.  After  breakfast  they  have  water  to  wash 
themselves,  while  their  apartments  are  perfumed  with 
frankincense  and  lime  juice.  Before  dinner  they  are 
amused  after  the  manner  of  their  country.  The  song 
and  the  dance  are  promoted,"  and,  as  if  the  whole  were 
really  a  scene  of  pleasure  and  dissipation,  it  is  added  that 
games  of  chance  are  furnished.  "The  men  play  and  sing, 
while  the  women  and  girls  make  fanciful  ornaments  with 
beads,  which  they  are  plentifully  supplied  with."  Such 
is  the  sort  of  strain  in  which  the  Liverpool  delegates,  and 
particularly  Mr.  ISTorris,  gave  evidence  before  the  Privy 
Council.  What  will  the  House  think  when,  by  the  con- 
curring testimony  of  other  witnesses,  the  true  history  is 
laid  open  ?  The  slaves,  who  are  sometimes  described  as 
rejoicing  at  their  captivity,  are  so'  wrung  with  misery 
at  leaving  their  coimtry,  that  it  is  the  constant  practice 
to  set  sail  in  the  night,  lest  they  should  be  sensible  of 
their  departure.  The  pulse  which  Mr.  Norris  talks  of  are 
horse  beans ;  and  the  scantiness  of  both  water  and  provi- 
sion was  suggested  by  the  very  legislature  of  Jamaica,  in 
the  report  of  their  committee,  to  be  a  subject  that  called 
for  the  interference  of  Parliament. 

Mr.  Norris  talks  of  frankincense  and  lime  juice ;  when 
the  surgeons  tell  you  the  slaves  are  stored  so  close  that 
there  is  not  room  to  tread  among  them ;  and  when  you 
have  it  in  evidence  from  Sir  George  Younge,  that  even 
in  a  ship  which  wanted  two  hundred  of  her  complement, 
the  stench  was  intolerable.     The  song  and  the  dance  are 


THE    BRITISH    SLAVE    TRADE  101 

promoted,  says  Mr.  Norris.  It  had  been  more  fair,  per- 
haps, if  he  had  explained  that  word  "promoted."  The 
trntli  is,  that  for  the  sake  of  exercise,  these  miserable 
wretches,  loaded  with  chains,  oppressed  with  disease  and 
wretchedness,  are  forced  to  dance  by  the  terror  of  the 
lash,  and  sometimes  by  the  actual  use  of  it.  "I,"  says 
one  of  the  other  evidences,  "was  employed  to  dance  the 
men,  while  'another  person  danced  the  women."  Such, 
then,  is  the  meaning  of  the  word  "promoted";  and  it 
may  be  observed  too,  with  respect  to  food,  that  an  in- 
strument is  sometimes  carried  out,  in  order  to  force  them 
to  eat,  which  is  the  same  sort  of  proof  how  much  they 
enjoy  themselves  in  that  instance  also.  As  to  their  sing- 
ing, what  shall  we  say  when  we  are  told  that  their  songs 
are  songs  of  lamentation  upon  their  departure  which,  while 
they  sing,  are  always  in  tears,  insomuch  that  one  captain 
(more  humane  as  I  should  conceive  him,  therefore,  than 
the  rest)  threatened  one  of  the  women  with  a  flogging, 
because  the  mournfulness  of  her  song  was  too  painful  for 
his  feelings.  In  order,  however,  not  to  trust  too  much  to 
any  sort  of  description,  I  will  call  the  attention  of  the 
House  to  one  species  of  evidence,  which  is  absolutely  in- 
fallible. Death,  at  least,  is  a  sure  ground  of  evidence, 
and  the  proportion  of  deaths  will  not  only  confirm,  but, 
if  possible,  will  even  aggravate  our  suspicion  of  their 
misery  in  the  transit.  It  will  be  found,  upon  an  average 
of  all  ships  of  which  evidence  has  been  given  at  the 
Privy  Council,  that  exclusive  of  those  who  perish  before 
they  sail,  not  less  than  twelve  and  one-half  per  cent  per- 
ish in  the  passage.  Besides  these,  the  Jamaica  report 
tells  you  that  not  less  than  four  and  one-half  per  cent 
die  on  shore  before  the  day  of  sale,  which  is  only  a  week 


I  ?fi*?iibV  '^^'»^«->^!fp-r  f'"^ti(r^f 


^'i  f  H- 


ii%/7^ 


102  WILLIAM    WILBERFORCK 

or  two  from  the  time  of  landing.  One-third  more  die  in 
the  seasoning,  and  this  in  a  country  exactly  like  their 
own,  where  they  are  healthy  and  happy,  as  some  of  the 
evidences  would  pretend.  The  diseases,  however,  which 
they  contract  on  shipboard,  the  astringent  washes  which 
are  to  hide  their  wounds,  and  the  mischievous  tricks  used 
to  make  them  up  for  sale,  are,  as  the  Jamaica  report  says 
— a  most  precious  and  valuable  report,  which  i  shall  often 
have  to  advert  to — one  principal  cause  of  this  mortality. 
Upon  the  whole,  however,  here  is  a  mortality  of  about 
fifty  per  cent,  and  this  among  negroes  who  are  not  bought 
unless  quite  healthy  at  first,  and  unless  (as  the  phrase  is 
with  cattle)  they  are  sound  in  wind  and  limb.  How  then 
can  the  House  refuse  its  belief  to  the  multiplied  testimo- 
nies, before  the  Privy  Council,  of  the  savage  treatment  of 
the  negroes  in  the  Middle  Passage?  Nay,  indeed,  what 
need  is  there  of  any  evidence  ?  The  number  of  deaths 
speaks  for  itself,  and  makes  all  such  inquiry  superfluous. 
As  soon  as  ever  I  had  arrived  thus  far  in  my  investiga- 
tion of  the  slave  trade,  I  confess  to  you,  sir,  so  enormous, 
so  dreadful,  so  irremediable  did  its  wickedness  appear, 
that  my  own  mind  was  completely  made  up  for  the  abo- 
lition. A  trade  founded  in  iniquity,  and  carried  on  as 
this  was,  must  be  abolished,  let  the  policy  be  what  it 
might — let  the  consequences  be  what  they  would,  I  from 
this  time  determined  that  I  would  never  rest  till  I  had 
effected  its  abolition.    .    .    . 

When  we  consider  the  vastness  of  the  continent  of 
Africa;  when  we  reflect  how  all  other  countries  have 
for  some  centuries  past  been  advancing  in  happiness  and 
civilization;  when  we  think  how  in  this  same  period  all 
improvement   in   Africa  has   been   defeated    by   her   iuter- 


THE    BRITISH    SLAVE    TRADE  103 

course  with  Britain;  when  we  reflect  that  it  is  we  our- 
selves that  have  degraded  them  to  that  wretched  brutish- 
ness  and  barbarity  which  we  now  plead  as  the  justification 
of  our  guilt;  how  the  slave  trade  has  enslaved  their  minds, 
blackened  their  character,  and  sunk  them  so  low  in  the 
scale  of  animal  beings  that  some  think  the  apes  are  of  a 
higher  class,  and  fancy  the  orang-outang  has  given  them 
the  go  by.  What  a  mortification  must  we  feel  at  having 
so  long  neglected  to  think  of  our  guilt,  or  attempt  any 
reparation!  It  seems,  indeed,  as  if  we  had  determined  to 
forbear  from  all  interference  until  the  measure  of  our  folly 
and  wickedness  was  so  full  and  complete;  until  the  im- 
policy which  eventually  belongs  to  vice  was  become  so 
plain  and  glaring  that  not  an  individual  m  the  country 
should  refuse  to  join  in  the  abolition;  it  seems  as  if  we 
had  waited  until  the  persons  most  interested  should  be 
tired  out  with  the  folly  and  nefariousness  of  the  trade, 
and  should  unite  in  petitioning  against  it. 

Let  us  then  make  such  amends  as  we  can  for  the  mis- 
chiefs we  have  done  to  the  unhappy  continent;  let  us  rec- 
ollect what  Europe  itself  was  no  longer  ago  than  three  or 
four  centuries.  What  if  I  should  be  able  to  show  tliis 
House  that  in  a  civilized  part  of  Europe,  in  the  time  of 
our  Henry  VII.,  there  were  people  who  actually  sold  their 
own  children?  What  if  I  should  tell  them  that  England 
itself  was  that  country?  What  if  I  should  point  out  to 
them  that  the  very  place  where  this  inhuman  traffic  was 
carried  on  was  the  city  of  Bristol  ?  Ireland  at  that  time 
used  to  drive  a  considerable  trade  in  slaves  with  these 
neighboring  barbarians;  but  a  great  plague  having  in- 
fested the  country,  the  Irish  were  struck  with  a  panic, 
suspected  (I  am  sure  very  properly)  that  the  plague  was 


104  WILLIAM    WILBERFORCE 

a  punishment  sent  from  heaven  for  the  sin  of  the  slave 
trade,  and  therefore  abolished  it.  All  I  ask,  therefore, 
of  the  people  of  Bristol  is,  that  they  would  become  as 
civilized  now  as  Irishmen  were  four  hundred  years  ago. 
Let  us  put  an  end  at  once  to  this  inhuman  traffic — let  us 
stop  this  effusion  of  human  blood.  The  true  way  to  vir- 
tue is  by  withdrawing  from  temptation;  let  us  then  with- 
draw from  these  wretched  Africans  those  temptations  to 
fraud,  violence,  cruelty,  and  injustice,  which  the  slave 
trade  furnishes.  "Wherever  the  sun  shines,  let  us  go 
round  the  world  with  him,  diffusing  our  beneficence;  but 
let  us  not  traffic,  only  that  we  may  set  kings  against  their 
subjects,  subjects  against  their  kings,  sowing  discord  in 
every  village,  fear  and  terror  in  every  family,  setting  mil- 
lions of  our  fellow-creatures  a-hunting  each  other  for  slaves, 
creating  fairs  and  markets  for  human  flesh  through  one  whole 
continent  of  the  world,  and,  under  the  name  of  policy,  con- 
cealing from  ourselves  all  the  baseness  and  iniquit}''  of  such 
a  traffic.  Why  may  we  not  hope,  erelong,  to  see  Hanse 
towns  established  on  the  coast  of  Africa  as  they  were  on 
the  Baltic?  It  is  said  the  Africans  are  idle,  but  they  are 
not  too  idle,  at  least,  to  catch  one  another;  seven  hundred 
to  one  thousand  tons  of  rice  are  annually  bought  of  them; 
by  the  same  rule  why  should  we  not  buy  more?  At  Gam- 
bia one  thousand  of  them  are  seen  continually  at  work;  why 
should  not  some  more  thousands  be  set  to  work  in  the  same 
manner  ?  It  is  the  slave  trade  that  causes  their  idleness  and 
every  other  mischief.  We  are  told  by  one  witness:  "They 
sell  one  another  as  they  can" ;  and  while  they  can  get  brandy 
by  catching  one  another,  no  wonder  they  are  too  idle  for  any 
regular  work. 

I  have  one  word  more  to  add  upon  a   most  material 


THE  BRITISH  SLAVE  TRADE  105 

point ;    but   it   is    a   point   so   self-evident   that   I   shall   be 
extremely   short.     It   will   appear   from   everything   which 
I  have  said,  that  it  is  not  regulation,  it  is  not  mere  pal- 
liatives,   that   can   cure    this   enormous   evil.     Total   aboli- 
tion is  the  only  possible  cure  for  it.     The  Jamaica  report, 
indeed,  admits  much  of  the  evil,  but  recommends  it  to  us 
so   to   regulate   the   trade  that   no   persons   should  be   kid- 
napped or  made  slaves  contrary  to  the  custom  of  Africa. 
But  may  they  not  be  made  slaves  unjustly,  and  yet  by  no 
means  contrary  to  the  custom  of  Africa  ?     I  have  shown 
they  may ;  for  all  the  customs  of  Africa  are  rendered  sav- 
age and  unjust  through  the  influence  of  this  trade ;  besides, 
how  can  we  discriminate  between  the  slaves  justly  and  un- 
justly made  ?  or,  if  we  could,  does  any  man  believe  that  the 
British  captains  can,  by  any  regulation  in  this  country,  be 
prevailed  upon  to  refuse  all  such  slaves  as  have  not  been 
fairly,    honestly,    and    uprightly    enslaved?     But    granting 
even  that  they  should  do  this,  yet  how  would  the  rejected 
slaves    be    recompensed?     They    are    brought,    as    we    are 
told,  from  three  or  four  thousand  miles  off,  and  exchanged 
like  cattle  from  one  hand  to  another,  until  they  reach  the 
coast.     We  see  then  that  it  is  the  existence  of  the  slave 
trade  that  is  the  spring  of  all  this  infernal  traffic,  and  that 
the  remedy  cannot  be  applied  without  abolition.     Again, 
as  to  the  Middle  Passage,  the  evil  is   radical  there  also ; 
the  merchant's  profit  depends  upon  the  number  that  can 
be  crowded  together,  and  upon  the  shortness  of  their  al- 
lowance.    Astringents,    escarotics,    and   all   the    other   arts 
of  making  them  up  for  sale,  are  of  the  very  essence  of  the 
trade ;  these  arts  will  be  concealed  both  from  the  purchaser 
and  the  legislature ;  they  are  necessary  to  the  owner's  profit, 
and  they  will  be  practiced.     Again,   chains  and  arbitrary 


106  WILLIAM    WILBERFOECK 

treatment  must  l)e  used  in  transporting  them;  our  seamen 
must  be  taught  to  play  the  tyrant,  and  that  depravation  of 
manners  among  them  (which  some  very  judicious  persona 
have  treated  of  as  the  very  worst  part  of  the  business)  can- 
not be  hindered,  while  the  trade  itself  continues.  As  to 
the  slave  merchants,  they  have  already  told  you  that  if 
two  slaves  to  a  ton  are  not  permitted,  the  trade  cannot 
continue;  so  that  the  objections  are  done  away  by  them- 
selves on  this  quarter;  and  in  the  West  Indies,  I  have 
shown  that  the  abolition  is  the  only  possible  stimulus 
whereby  a  regard  to  population,  and  consequently  to  the 
happiness  of  the  negroes,  can  be  effectually  excited  in 
those    islands. 

I  trust,  therefore,  I  have  shown  that  upon  every 
ground  the  total  abolition  ought  to  take  place.  I  have 
urged  many  things  which  are  not  my  own  leading  mo- 
tives for  proposing  it,  since  I  have  wished  to  show  every 
description  of  gentlemen,  and  particularly  the  West  India 
planters,  who  deserve  every  attention,  that  the  abolition  is 
politic  upon  their  own  principles  also.  Policy,  however, 
sir,  is  not  my  principle,  and  I  am  not  ashamed  to  say  it. 
There  is  a  principle  above  everything  that  is  political; 
and  when  I  reflect  on  the  command  which  says:  "Thou 
shalt  do  no  murder,"  believing  the  authority  to  be  Divine, 
how  can  I  dare  to  set  up  any  reasonings  of  my  own  against 
it  ?  And,  sir,  when  we  think  of  eternity,  and  of  the  future 
consequences  of  all  human  conduct,  what  is  there  in  this 
life  that  should  make  any  man  contradict  the  dictates  of 
his  conscience,  the  principles  of  justice,  the  laws  of  relig- 
ion, and  of  God.  Sir,  the  nature  and  all  the  circumstances 
of  this  trade  are  now  laid  open  (to  us;  we  can  no  longer 
plead  Ignorance,  we  cannot  evade  it,   it  is  now  an  object 


THE    BRITISH    SLAVE   TRADE 


107 


placed  before  us,  we  cannot  pass  it;  we  may  spurn  it,  we 
may  kick  it  out  of  our  way,  but  we  cannot  turn  aside  so 
as  to  avoid  seeing  it ;  for  it  is  brought  now  so  directly  before 
our  eyes  that  this  House  must  decide,  and  must  justify  to 
all  the  world,  and  to  their  own  consciences,  the  rectitude  of 
the  grounds  and  principles  of  their  decision.  A  society  has 
been  established  for  the  abolition  of  this  trade,  in  which 
Dissenters,  Quakers,  Churchmen  —  in  which  the  most  con- 
scientious of  all  persuasions  have  all  united,  and  made  a 
common  cause  in  this  great  question.  Let  not  Parliament 
be  the  only  body  that  is  insensible  to  the  principles  of  national 
justice.  Let  us  make  reparation  to  Africa,  so  far  as  we  can, 
by  establishing  a  trade  upon  true  commercial  principles,  and 
we  shall  soon  find  the  rectitude  of  our  conduct  rewarded  by 
the  benefits  of  a  regular  and  a  growing  commerce. 


DANTON 


[EOKGKS  Jacques  Danton,  French  orator,  and  one  of  the  chief  leaders 
of  the  Revohition,  was  born  at  Arcis-sur-Aube,  Oct.  28,  1759,  and 
died  by  the  guillotine,  April  5,  1794.  Ilig  career  opened  as  a  lawyer, 
for  which  he  possessed  the  gifts  of  eloquence  and  a  sonorous  voice, 
with  the  energy  and  figure  of  a  Hercules,  but  was  soon  drawn  into  the  vortex 
of  the  French  Revolution.  In  this  tragic  outlireak  he  played  the  part  of  the 
"Mirabeau  of  the  Sans  Culottes,"  led  the  attack  on  the  Tuileries  and  voted 
for  the  death  of  Louis  XVI,  and  sanctioned  the  hideous  massacres  of  Septem- 
ber, 1792,  in  which,  in  Paris  alone,  1,100  were  slaughtered.  He  became  for  a 
time  minister  of  justice,  but  resigned  the  post  to  enter  the  National  Conven- 
tion, which  with  practically  al)solute  power  passed  a  law  ordaining  domiciliary 
visits,  and  led  to  a  veritable  "reign  of  terror"  and  to  the  inciting  of  every 
passion  known  to  humanity.  In  the  tumult  of  war  with  Austria,  he  undertook 
various  missions  to  the  Netherlands,  and  urged  the  levy  of  fresh  troops  for  the 
defeat  within  and  without  the  country  of  the  foes  of  France.  He  created  the 
Revolutionary  Tribunal,  and  after  the  fall  of  the  Girondists,  became  a  member 
of  the  Committee  of  Public'  Safety,  April  to  September,  1793,  where  he  sided  with 
Robespierre  against  the  Girondins,  though  he  sought  to  save  the  latter  from 
violent  harm.  On  the  fall  of  the  IlC'bertists,  he  became  obnoxious  to  Robes- 
pierre, who  sent  him  with  Dcsmoulins  and  others  before  the  Revolutionary 
Tribunal,  which  consigned  him  to  the  axe,  to  be  followed  by  Robespierre  him- 
self and  those  of  his  consorts  who  had  decreed  the  era  of  the  Terror.  His  last 
words  to  the  headsman  were:  "Thou  wilt  show  my  head  to  the  people;  it  is 
worth  showing."  A  reflection  of  his  in  prison  has  also  been  recorded:  "Oh, 
it  were  better  to  be  a  poor  fisherman  than  to  meddle  with  the  governing  of  men." 


TO  DARE,   TO   DARE   AGAIN;   ALWAYS  TO   DARE 

DELIVERED     IN     THE    NATIONAL    ASSEMBLY,    SEPTEMBER    2,    1792.    ON    THE 

DEFENCE  OF  THE  REPUBLIC 

IT  SEEMS  a  satisfaction  for  the  ministers  of  a  free  people 
to  announce  to  them  that  their  country  will  be  saved. 
All  are  stirred,  all  are  enthused,  all  burn  to  enter  the 
combat. 

You  know  that  Verdun  is  not  yet  in  the  power  of  our 

(108) 


TO  DARE,  TO  DARE  AGAIN  ;  ALWAYS  TO  DARE       109 

enemies  and  that  its  garrison  swears  to  immolate  the  first 
who  breathes  a  proposition  of  surrender. 

One  portion  of  our  people  will  guard  our  frontiers,  an- 
other will  dig  and  arm  the  intrenchments,  the  third  with 
pikes  will  defend  the  interior  of  our  cities.  Paris  will 
second  these  great  efforts.  The  commissioners  of  the  Com- 
mune will  solemnly  proclaim  to  the  citizens  the  invitation 
to  arm  and  march  to  the  defence  of  the  country.  At  such 
a  moment  you  can  proclaim  that  the  capital  deserves  the 
esteem  of  all  France.  At  such  a  moment  this  National 
Assembly  becomes  a  veritable  committee  of  war.  We  ask 
that  you  concur  with  us  in  directing  this  sublime  movement 
of  the  people,  by  naming  commissioners  to  second  and  assist 
all  these  great  measures.  We  ask  that  any  one  refusing  to 
give  personal  service  or  to  furnish  arms  shall  meet  the 
punishment  of  death.  We  ask  that  proper  instructions  be 
given  to  the  citizens  to  direct  their  movements.  We  ask 
that  carriers  be  sent  to  all  the  departments  to  notify  them 
of  the  decrees  that  you  proclaim  here.  The  tocsin  we  shall 
sound  is  not  the  alarm  signal  of  danger,  it  orders  the  charge 
on  the  enemies  of  France.  (Applause.)  To  conquer  we 
have  need  to  dare,  to  dare  again,  always  to  dare!  And 
France  will  be  saved! 

(Pour  les  vaincre,  il  nous  faut  de  I'audace;  encore  de 
I'audace,  toujours  de  I'audace j  et  la  France  est  sauvee.) 


110 


GEORGES  JACQUES  DANTON 


AGAINST  IMPRISONMENT  FOR  DEBT 

DELIVERED  IN  CONVENTION,  MARCH  g,  179} 

BEYOND  a  doubt,  citizens,  the  hopes  of  your  com- 
missioners will  not  be  deceived.  Yes,  your  ene- 
mies, the  enemies  of  liberty,  shall  be  exterminated, 
for  your  efforts  shall  be  relentless.  You  are  worthy  the 
dignity  of  regulating  and  controlling  the  nation's  energy. 
Your  commissioners,  disseminated  in  all  parts  of  the  Re- 
public, will  repeat  to  Frenchmen  that  the  great  quarrel 
between  despotism  and  liberty  shall  soon  terminate.  The 
people  of  France  shall  be  avenged  ;  it  becomes  us  then  to 
put  the  political  world  in  harmony,  to  make  laws  in  accord 
with  such  harmony.  But  before  we  too  deeply  entertain 
these  grander  objects,  I  shall  ask  you  to  make  a  declara- 
tion of  a  principle  too  long  ignored  ;  to  abolish  a  baneful 
error,  to  destroy  the  tyranny  of  wealth  upon  misery. 

If  the  measures  I  propose  be  adopted,  then  Pitt,  the 
Breteuil  of  English  diplomacy,  and  Burke,  the  Abb6 
Maury  of  the  British  Parliament,  who  are  impelling  the 
English  people  to-day  against  liberty,  may  be  touched. 

What  do  you  ask  ?  You  would  have  every  Frenchman 
armed  in  the  common  defence.  And  yet  there  is  a  class  of 
men  sullied  by  no  crime,  who  have  stout  arms,  but  no 
liberty.  They  are  the  unfortunates  detained  for  debt.  It 
is  a  shame  for  humanity,  it  is  against  all  philosophy,  that 
a  man  in  receiving  money  can  pawn  his  person  as  security. 
I  can  readily  prove  that  this  principle  is  favorable  to 
cupidity,    since     experience     proves     that     the     lender     takes 


EDUCATION,    FREE   AND   COMPULSORY  HI 

no  pecuniary  security,  since  he  has  the  disposition  of  the 
body  of  his  debtor.  But  of  what  importance  are  these 
mercantile  considerations?  They  should  not  influence  a 
great  nation.  Principles  are  eternal,  and  no  Frenchman 
can  be  rightly  deprived  of  his  liberty  unless  he  has  for- 
feited it  to  society.  The  possessing  and  owning  class  need 
not  be  alarmed.  Doubtless,  some  individuals  go  to  ex- 
tremes, but  the  nation,  always  just,  will  respect  all  the 
proprieties.  Respect  misery,  and  misery  will  respect  opu- 
lence. (Applause.)  Never  wrong  the  unfortunate,  and  the 
unfortunate,  who  have  more  soul  than  the  rich,  will  remain 
guiltless.     (Loud  applause.) 

I  ask  that  this  National  Convention  declare  that  every 
French  citizen  imprisoned  for  debt  shall  be  liberated,  be- 
cause such  imprisonment  is  contrary  to  moral  health,  con- 
trary to  the  rights  of  man,  and  to  the  true  principles  of 
liberty. 


EDUCATION,    FREE   AND  COMPULSORY 

FROM  A  SPEECH  DELIVERED  IN  THE  CONVENTION,  AUGUST  13.   1793 

CITIZENS — After   having   given   liberty   to    France: 
after   having    vanquished    her   enemies,    there   can 
be  no   honor  greater    than   to   prepare  for   future 
generations   an   education    in    keeping   with    that    liberty. 
This   is    the   object   which    Lepeletier    proposes:    that    all 
that  is   good   for  society   shall   be   adopted   by  those  who 

live   under  its   social   contract It    has    been    said 

that  paternal  affection  opposes  the  execution  of  such 
plans.  Certainly  we  must  respect  natural  rights  even  in 
their   perversion.      But   even  if    we   do   not   fully  sustain 


112  GEORGES  JACQUES  DANTON 

compulsory  schooling,   we  must  not  deprive    the  children 
of  the  poor  of  an  education. 

The  greatest  objection  has  been  that  of  finding  the 
means;  but  I  have  already  said  there  is  no  real  extrava- 
gance where  the  good  result  to  the  public  is  so  great,  and 
I  add  the  principle  that  the  child  of  the  poor  can  be  taught 
at  the  expense  of  the  superfluities  of  the  scandalous  fortunes 
erected  among  us.  It  is  to  you  who  are  celebrated  among 
our  Republicans  that  I  appeal;  bring  to  this  subject  the  fire 
of  your  imagination,  the  energy  of  your  character.  It  is  the 
people  who  must  endow  national  education. 

When  you  commence  to  sow  this  seed  of  education  in  the 
vast  field  of  the  Republic,  you  must  not  count  the  expense 
of  reaping  the  harvest.  After  bread,  education  is  the  first 
need  of  a  people.  (Applause.)  I  ask  that  the  question  be 
submitted,  that  there  be  founded,  at  the  expense  of  the  na- 
tion, establishments  where  each  citizen  can  have  the  right 
to  send  his  children  for  free  public  instruction.  It  is  to 
the  monks — it  is  to  the  age  of  Louis  XIV.,  when  men  were 
great  by  their  acquirements,  that  we  owe  the  age  of  phi- 
losophy, that  is  to  say,  of  reason,  brought  to  the  knowledge 
of  the  people.  To  the  Jesuits,  lost  by  their  political  am- 
bitions, we  owe  an  impetus  in  education  evoking  our  ad- 
miration. But  the  Republic  has  been  in  the  souls  of  our 
people,  twenty  years  ahead  of  its  proclamation.  Corneille 
wrote  dedications  to  Montauron,  but  Corneille  made  the 
"Cid,"  "Cmna";  Corneille  spoke  like  a  Roman,  and  he 
who  said:  "For  being  more  than  a  king  you  think  you 
are  something,"   was  a  true  Republican. 

Now  for  public  instruction;  everything  shrinks  in  do- 
mestic teaching,  everything  enlarges  and  ennobles  in  public 
communal  instruction.     A  mistake  is  made  in  presenting  a 


EDUCATION,  FREE  AND  COMPULSORY  113 

tableau  of  paternal  affections.  I,  too,  am  a  father,  and  more 
so  than  the  aristocrats  who  oppose  public  education,  for  they 
are  never  sure  of  their  paternities.  (Laughter.)  When  I 
consider  my  rights  relatively  to  the  general  good  I  feel 
elevated ;  my  son  is  not  mine.  He  belongs  to  the  Re- 
public. Let  her  dictate  his  duties  that  he  can  best  serve 
her.  It  has  been  said  it  is  repugnant  to  the  heart  of  our 
peasantry  to  make  such  sacrifice  of  their  children.  Well, 
do  not  constrain  them  too  much.  Let  there  be  classes,  if 
necessary,  that  only  meet  on  the  Sabbath.  Begin  the  sys- 
tem by  a  gradual  adaptation  to  the  manners  of  the  people. 
If  you  expect  the  State  to  make  an  instant  and  absolute 
regeneration,  you  will  never  get  public  instruction.  It  is 
necessary  that  each  man  develop  the  moral  means  and 
methods  he  received  from  nature.  Have  for  them  all 
communal  houses  and  faculties  for  instruction,  and  do 
not  stop  at  any  secondary  considerations.  The  rich  man 
will  pay,  and  will  lose  nothing  if  he  will  profit  for  the 
instruction  of  his  son. 

I  ask,  then,  that  under  suitable  and  necessary  modifi- 
cations you  decree  the  erection  of  national  establishments 
where  children  can  be  instructed,  fed,  and  lodged  gratui- 
tously, and  the  citizens  who  desire  to  retain  their  children 
at  home  can  send  them  there  for  instruction. 

Convention,  December  12,  1Y93. — It  is  a  proper  time  to 
establish  the  principle  which  seems  understood,  that  the 
youth  belong  to  the  Republic  before  they  belong  to  their 
parents.  'No  one  more  than  myself  respects  nature,  but 
of  what  avail  the  reasoning  of  the  individual  against  the 
reason  of  the  nation?  In  the  national  schools  the  child 
will  suck  the  milk  of  Republicanism.  The  Republic  is 
one   and   indivisible.     Public   instruction  produces   such   a 


Vol.  4— « 


114  GEORGES    JACQUES    DANTON 

centre  of  unity.     To  none,  then,  can  we  accord  the  priv- 
ilege of  isolation  from  such   benefits. 


FREEDOM   OF   WORSHIP 

DELIVERED  IN  THE  CONVENTION.  APRIL  i8.  1793 

WE  HAVE  appeared  divided  in  counsel,  but  the 
instant  we  seek  the  good  of  mankind  we  are 
in  accord.  Vergniaud  has  told  us  grand  and 
immortal  truths.  The  Constitutional  Assembly,  embar- 
rassed by  a  king,  by  the  prejudices  which  still  enchain 
the  nation,  and  by  deep-rooted  intolerance,  has  not  up- 
rooted accepted  principles,  but  has  done  much  for  lib- 
erty in  consecrating  the  doctrine  of  tolerance.  To-day  the 
ground  of  liberty  is  prepared  and  we  owe  to  the  French 
people  a  government  founded  on  bases  pure  and  eternal! 
Yes!  we  shall  say  to  them:  Frenchmen  you  have  the 
right  to  adore  the  divinity  you  deem  entitled  to  your 
worship:  "The  liberty  of  worship,  which  it  is  the  object 
of  law  to  establish,  means  only  the  right  of  individuals  to 
assemble  to  render  in  their  way  homage  to  the  Deity." 
Such  a  form  of  liberty  is  enforcible  only  by  legal  regu- 
lations and  the  police,  but  you  do  not  wish  to  insert 
regulating  laws  in  your  declaration  of  rights.  The  right 
of  freedom  of  worship,  a  sacred  right,  will  be  protected 
by  laws  in  harmony  with  its  principles.  We  will  have 
only  to  guarantee  these  rights.  Human  reason  cannot 
retrograde;  we  have  advanced  too  far  for  the  people  ever 
to  believe  they  are  not  absolutely  free  in  religious  thought, 
merely  because  you  have  failed  to  engrave  the  principle  of 


SQUEEZING   THE   SPONGE  115 

this  liberty  on  the  table  of  your  laws.  If  superstition  still 
seem  to  inhere  in  the  movements  of  the  Eepublic,  it  is  be- 
cause our  political  enemies  always  employ  it.  But  look! 
everywhere  the  people,  freed  from  malevolent  espionage, 
recognize  that  any  one  assuming  to  interpose  between  them 
and  their  God  is  an  impostor. 


"SQUEEZING  THE   SPONGE" 

ON  TAXING  THE  RICH  -DELIVERED  IN  THE  CONVENTION,  APRIL  ay,  ngj 

YOU  have  decreed  "honorable  mention"   of  what  has 
been  done  for  the  public  benefit  by  the  Department 
De   L'Hevault.      In   this   decree   you  authorize  the 
whole   Republic    to   adopt   the    same    measures,    for    your 
decree  ratifies  all  the  acts  which  have  just  been  brought 
to  your  knowledge. 

If  everywhere  the  same  measures  be  taken,  the  Republic 
is  saved.  No  more  shall  we  treat  as  agitators  and  anarchists 
the  ardent  friends  of  liberty  who  set  the  nation  in  motion, 
but  we  shall  say:  "Honor  to  the  agitators  who  turn  the 
vigor  of  the  people  against  its  enemies!"  When  the 
Temple  of  Liberty  shall  be  reared,  the  people  will  know 
how  to  decorate  it.  Rather  perish  France  than  to  return 
to  our  hard  slavery.  Let  it  not  be  believed  we  shall  be- 
come barbarians  after  we  shall  have  founded  liberty.  We 
shall  embellish  France  until  the  despots  shall  envy  us;  but 
while  the  ship  of  state  is  in  the  stress  of  storm,  beaten  by 
the  tempest,  that  which  belongs  to  each  belongs  to  all. 
No  longer  are  Agrarian  Laws  spoken  of!     The  people 


116  GKORGKS    JACC^UES    DANTON 

are  wiser  than  their  calumniators  assumed,  and  the  people 
in  mass  have  much  more  sense  than  many  of  those  who 
deem  themselves  great  men.  in  a  people  we  can  no  more 
count  the  great  men  than  we  can  count  the  giant  trees  in 
the  vast  forest.  It  was  believed  that  the  people  wanted 
the  Agrarian  Law,  and  this  may  throw  suspicion  on  the 
measures  adopted  by  the  Department  De  L' He  vault.  It 
will  be  said  of  them.  "They  taxed  the  rich";  but,  citi- 
zens, to  tax  the  rich  is  to  serve  them.  It  is  rather  a  veri- 
table advantage  for  them  than  any  considerable  sacrifice; 
and  the  greater  the  sacrifice,  the  greater  the  usufruct,  for 
the  greater  is  the  guarantee  to  the  foundation  of  property 
against  the  invasion  of  its  enemies.  It  is  an  appeal  to 
every  man,  according  to  his  means,  to  save  the  Republic. 
The  appeal  is  just.  What  the  Department  De  L'Hevault 
has  done,  Paris  and  all  France  will  do  See  what  re- 
sources France  will  procure,  Paris  has  a  luxury  and 
wealth  which  is  considerable.  Well,  by  decree,  this 
sponge  will  be  squeezed!  And  with  singular  satisfac- 
tion it  will  be  found  that  the  people  will  conduct  their 
revolution  at  the  expense  of  their  internal  enemies.  These 
enemies  themselves  will  learn  the  price  of  liberty  and  will 
desire  to  possess  it,  when  they  will  recognize  that  it  has 
preserved  for  them  their  possessions. 

Paris  in  making  an  appeal  to  capitalists  will  furnish 
her  contingent,  which  will  afford  means  to  suppress  the 
troubles  in  La  Vendue ;  for,  at  any  sacrifice,  these  troubles 
must  be  suppressed.  On  this  alone  depends  your  external 
tranquillity.  Already,  the  departments  of  the  north  have 
informed  the  combined  despots  that  your  territory  cannot 
be  divided;  and  soon  you  will  probably  learn  of  the  dis- 
solution of  this  formidable  league  of  kings.     For  in  unit- 


ON    ASSASSINATION    OF    LKPELETIKR  117 

ing  against  you,  they  have  not  forgotten  their  ancient  hatreds 
and  respective  pretensions ;  and  if  the  Executive  Council  had 
had  a  little  more  latitude,  the  league  misfht  be  already  com- 
pletely dissolved, 

Paris,  then,  must  be  directed  against  La  Vendee.  All  the 
men  needed  in  this  city  to  form  a  reserve  camp  should  be 
sent  at  once  to  La  Vendee.  These  measures  once  taken, 
the  rebels  will  disperse,  and,  like  the  Austrians,  will  com- 
mence to  kill  each  other.  If  the  flames  of  this  civil  discord 
be  extinguished,  they  will  ask  of  us  peace ! 


ON   THE   ASSASSINATION  OF   LEPELETIER  DE    SAINT- 

FARGEAU 

DELIVERED   JANUARY   21,    1793 

AT  this  most  terrible  moment  I  notice  with  satisfaction 
that  the  people,  whose  excesses  seem  to  be  feared,  has 
respected  the'  liberty  of  its  representatives  who  have 
been  most  eager  in  betraying  its  interests.  Where  should  we 
be,  if  one  of  those  who  did  not  wish  to  vote  for  the  death  of 
the  tyrant  had  perished  by  the  knife  of  an  insane  patriot? 
Surely,  calumny,  prepared  for  so  long,  would  make  great 
ravages  against  us.  But,  citizens,  let  us  be  generous ;  the  life 
of  Lepeletier  was  beautiful ;  his  death  will  yet  serve  the  re- 
public. Generous  citizen,  I  envy  you  your  death;  it  will 
prove  to  France  that  there  was  no  danger  among  us  except 
for  those  who  burned  with  the  holy  love  of  liberty. 

A  place  in  the  Pantheon  has  been  asked  for  him;  surely  he 
has  already  gathered  the  immortal  palm  of  the  martyr  of 
liberty.  Yes,  I  vote  too  for  the  Pantheon;  yes,  I  vote  for  it 
also.     On  his  tomb  we  shall  swear  to  serve  liberty,  not  to 


118  GEORGES  JACQUES  DANTON 

leave  our  post  until  we  have  given  a  constitution  to  the  people, 
or  to  die  bj  the  dagger  of  assassins. 

It  will  be  sweet  for  me  to  prove  to  you,  by  explaining  in 
this  assembly  that  I  am  a  stranger  to  all  passions,  that  I  know 
how  to  unite  to  impetuosity  of  character  the  stolidity  which 
belongs  to  a  man  chosen  by  the  people  to  make  its  laws.  I 
have  the  honor  of  forming  a  part  of  those  citizens  [pointing 
to  the  Mountain]  who  have  been  continually  presented  as 
enemies  of  every  kind  of  government.  But  I  implore  them 
not  to  become  exasperated  for  not  having  been  recognized  as 
the  true  friends  of  liberty.  Petion,  in  my  opinion,  was 
wrong ;  Petion  was  weak ;  I  have  always  believed  him  so ;  he 
can  explain  himself  on  my  account  as  he  thinks  proper.  But 
I  confess  I  am  painfully  affected  to  see  that  all  France  will  no 
longer  know  in  whom  to  place  any  confidence. 

I  reproach  Petion  for  not  having  explained  himself  clearly 
enough  in  regard  to  those  who  had  served  the  commonwealtli 
more  energetically  perhaps  than  he.  Perhaps  Petion  could 
have  told  you  more  clearly  that  those  deplorable  scenes,  those 
horrible  massacres  which  have  been  indulged  in  to  such  an 
extent  to  incense  the  departments  against  Paris, —  perhaps  he 
ought  to  have  told  you  clearly  that  no  human  power  could 
have  stopped  the  effect  of  that  revolutionary  thirst,  of  that 
rage  which  took  entire  possession  of  a  great  people;  perhaps 
some  of  the  members  of  the  extraordinary  commission  ac- 
quainted with  these  deplorable  events  could  have  reminded 
you  also  that  these  terrible  acts  about  which  we  all  groan 
Avere  the  effect  of  a  revolution;  and  if  some  individuals 
can  he  reproached  for  having  practised  acts  of  vengeance, 
it  was  never  the  immediate  action  of  a  few  persons,  but 
rather  a  people  who  had  never  had  justice  for  the  gi*eat- 
est  criminals. 


ON    ASSASSINATION    OF    LEPELETIER  119 

If  we  had  explained  ourselves  frankly  about  these  frightful 
events,  we  should  have  doubtless  have  been  spared  respectively 
many  calumnies,  and  the  republic  perhaps  many  evils. 

So  I  call  on  you,  citizens,  you  who  have  seen  me  in  the 
ministry,  to  tell  me  if  I  have  not  brought  union  everywhere. 
I  entreat  you,  you  Petion,  you  Brissot,  I  entreat  you  all,  for 
I  wisb  to  make  myself  known ;  I  entreat  you  all  because  in 
short  I  wish  to  be  known.  I  have  had  the  courage  to  keep 
silent  for  three  months,  but  since  I  wish  to  speak  about  other 
individuals  I  must  make  myself  thoroughly  known.  Well ! 
I  submit  myself  to  your  judgment.  Have  I  not  shown  def- 
erence to  the  old  man  who  is  now  minister  of  the  interior?^ 
Have  I  not  told  you,  do  you  not  agree  with  me  concerning  the 
unfortunate  bitterness  of  his  character,  at  a  time  when,  in 
the  bosom  of  the  republic,  it  was  desirable,  it  was  indispen- 
sable, that  he  who  performed  in  a  way  the  function  of  consul 
should  be  of  a  character  to  conciliate  minds,  should  be  of  a 
character  to  try  to  dispel  hatreds  at  a  moment  when  it  was 
inevitable  that  so  great  a  commotion  would  involve  great  con- 
tests? You  agreed  with  me.  Well!  I  reproach  you  for  not 
having  explained  this.  Koland,  whose  intentions  I  do  not 
calumniate,  but  whose  character  I  am  trying  to  make  known : 
Roland  considers  as  rascals  and  enemies  of  the  country  all 
wbo  do  not  caress  his  thoughts  and  his  opinions.  I  entreat 
you,  you,  my  dear  fellow  citizens,  you  Lanthenas,  whose  rela- 
tions with  Roland  ought  to  cause  an  investigation  into  this 
testimony,  notice  this  sentence!  Citizens,  it  is  not  with 
calumny  that  I  ask  to  have  this  post  vacated ;  it  is  in  accord- 
ance with  his  commensals. 

For  tbe  welfare  of  the  republic,  I  ask  that  Roland  shall 
no    longer  be   minister.     Weigh   my   impartiality   well.     I 

'Roland. 


120  GEORGES  JACQUES  DAXTON 

appeal  to  you,  citizens,  concerning  it.  I  have  replied  to  no 
calumny.  I  see  that  Roland  was  abused  on  m}'  account.  I 
desire  the  safety  of  the  republic,  and  I  know  not  vengeance, 
because  I  have  no  need  of  it.  I  say  then  that  you  cannot 
suspect  my  declaration  when  I  call  upon  those  even  who 
cherish  Roland  the  most- 
Having  been  exposed  to  proceedings,  fearing  that  a  warrant 
would  be  served  against  him,  from  that  moment  Roland  saw 
Paris  only  in  the  darkness:  he  confounded  everything  then, 
because  he  believed  he  had  everything  to  fear ;  he  thought  in 
his  mistake  that  the  great  tree  of  liberty,  whose  roots  hold 
all  the  soil  of  the  republic,  could  be  overturned.  Then  burst 
forth  his  resentment  against  the  city  of  Paris,  and  it  will 
exist  as  well  as  the  republic:  because  Paris  is  the  city  of  all 
the  departments ;  Paris  is  the  city  of  all  their  lights ;  all  the 
departments  being  then  there;  and  this  is  Roland's  great 
error,  the  great  mistake  he  made,  this  is  his  great  fault :  it  is 
having  conspired,  through  his  hatred,  to  arouse  the  depart- 
ments against  Paris.  I  -wdll  remind  him  of  what  he  accused 
me.  When  he  spoke  to  me  about  the  departmental  guard,  I 
said  to  him :  "  This  measure  is  contrary  to  all  principles,  but 
it  will  pass ;  because  it  is  a  decided  row.  Well !  This  guard 
will  no  sooner  have  taken  up  its  abode  in  Paris  than  it  will 
have  the  mind  of  the  people :  because  the  people  have  no  other 
passion  but  for  liberty." 

Well !  citizens,  have  you  the  proof  now  that  the  federates 
of  the  departments  have  other  sentiments  than  the  citizens 
of  Paris ;  not  one  of  you  doubts  it  now ;  yes,  you  do  not  doubt 
it  yourselves.  How  many  citizens  agree  that  they  have  been 
led  in  error  I  This  error,  I  say  it  with  regret,  comes  from 
Roland's  acrimony ;  you  can  obtain  the  proof  of  it  through 
one  of  your   committees.     Roland   has  circulated    writings, 


ON    ASSASSINATION    OF    LEPELETIER  121 

founded  at  first  on  the  error  into  which  his  mind  had  fallen, 
that  is  to  say  that  Paris  wished  to  rule.  After  that,  I  will 
not  give  my  conclusion ;  but  in  fixing  your  attention  on  all 
that  I  have  just  said,  I  believe  that  you  will  have  reached 
the  source  of  the  evil,  and,  this  source  being  exhausted,  you 
will  be  able  to  occupy  yourselves  efficiently  with  the  welfare 
of  the  country. 

You  have  had  special  measures  pointed  out  to  you,  that  is 
domiciliary  visits.  I  am  wholly  opposed  to  this  measure ;  that 
is  to  say,  I  do  not  believe,  at  a  time  when  the  French  nation 
is  opposed  to  the  application  of  a  bill  aimed  against  the 
French  citizens  by  the  Parliament  of  England,  she  ought  her- 
self to  set  the  example  of  a  measure  against  which  she  rises 
and  which  she  condemns.  I  say  that  there  is  a  way  to  reach 
the  same  end,  and  this  is  my  idea  about  it:  You  should  have 
a  committee  of  supervision,  of  general  safety,  worthy  of  your 
absolute  confidence ;  it  should  be  fortunate  enough  to  have 
nothing  to  fear  from  its  operations.  Well!  renew  it,  if  you 
deem  it  necessary,  in  order  that  you  may  give  it  a  wide  lati- 
tude, and  that,  when  two  thirds  of  its  members  believe  they 
hold  the  thread  of  a  plot,  they  may  have  the  right  to  open 
the  doors  of  any  house  where  they  may  think  a  conspirator  is 
concealed.  This  is  the  only  way  to  carry  out  your  object 
without  destroying  principles. 

I  will  pass  on  to  matters  of  a  superior  order.  It  is  not 
enough  to  have  caused  the  tyrant's  head  to  fall ;  there  is  not 
a  citizen  on  whom  our  eyes  have  rested  who  does  not  call  all 
our  energy,  all  our  agitation  towards  war.  Let  us  make  war 
with  Europe,  and  not  with  ourselves.  Grasp  my  thought: 
war  should  be  carried  on  by  a  people  like  the  French  nation 
in  a  manner  worthy  of  Eer.  In  order  to  economize  the  blood 
of  men  their  sweat  is  needed.     Prodigality  is  needed.     Such 


122  GEORGES  JACQUES  DANTON 

a  war  carried  on  parsimoniously    would  have  terminated  a 
great  quarrel  if  waged  lavishly. 

You  will  have  a  report  from  your  commissioners  sent  to 
Belgium,  from  it  you  will  gather  the  conviction  that  your 
armies  have  done  wonders,  although  in  a  state  of  deplorable 
destitution.  Fear  nothing  in  the  world :  we  have  seen  the 
French  soldiers ;  there  is  not  one  of  them  who  does  not  believe 
he  is  worth  more  than  two  hundred  slaves.  Such  is  the 
energy,  such  is  the  republicanism  of  the  army  that  if  it  should 
be  said  to  three  hundred,  You  must  perish  or  march  against 
Vienna ;  they  would  say.  We  go  to  death  or  Vienna. 

With  such  a  people  nothing  is  needed  but  wise  legislators 
who  know  how  to  hold  the  reins  of  this  sublime  nation. 
Reflect  that  it  is  greater  than  you ;  reflect  that  there  is  no 
longer  a  man  of  genius  in  a  great  people ;  that  the  true  genius 
is  in  its  entirety  in  this  same  people.  Well !  sec  to  it  that 
you  raise  the  people  to  the  height  they  ought  to  attain.  Re- 
organize your  armies,  for  consider  that  before  making  a  con- 
stitution you  must  have  the  means  of  beating  your  enemy ; 
for  people  already  constitute  a  nation  when  they  are  already 
conquerors  such  as  we  have  been  in  our  last  campaign. 

I  will  remind  you  of  another  subject — that  there  is  another 
ministry  occupied  by  another  good  citizen, — it  is  the  ministry 
of  war.  But  this  ministry  exceeds  human  strength,  and,  if 
I  should  explain  myself  openly,  I  should  say  that  this  citizen, 
to  whom  I  render  justice,  has  not  the  push,  the  quick-sight- 
edness  necessary  to  a  man  charged  with  so  great  operations 
and  so  great  responsibility.  I  do  not  ask  to  have  him  robbed 
of  his-  functions,  but  I  call  your  attention  to  the  fact  that  they 
ought  to  be  divided,  in  order  not  to  crush  the  one  in  charge 
of  tlicm.  When  you  are  familiar  with  the  report  that  we 
are  going  to  make  ior  you,  you  will  feel  that  you  need  the 


ON    THE    ABOLITION    OF    SLAVERY  123 

same  movement  in  the  army ;  that  just  as  only  one  general  is 
needed  to  move  that  great  body,  so  perhaps  only  one  man 
is  needed  to  conduct  the  administration  which  is  to  furnish 
means  of  subsistence  to  that  great  mass. 

Citizens,  prepare  your  thoughts  on  these  great  subjects; 
they  will  come  up  before  you  incessantly ;  pay  strict  attention, 
above  all,  to  what  I  have  said  to  you  about  the  minister  of 
the  interior ;  remember  and  do  not  lose  sight  of  what  I  have 
represented  to  you,  that  if  my  duty  did  not  compel  me  to 
report  what  I  have  seen,  wha  the  citizens  I  have  quoted  have 
seen,  I  should  be  silent,  for  I  am  not  made  to  be  suspected 
of  resentment.  I  shall  never  have  but  one  passion;  that  is  to 
die  for  my  country.  May  heaven  grant  me  the  fate  of  the 
citizen  whose  loss  we  deplore! 

[Specially  translated  by  Helen  B.  Dole.] 


ON  THE   ABOLITION  OF  SLAVERY 

i6   PLUVIOSE,  YEAR   II  =  FEBRUARY  4,   1794 

EPRESENTATIVES  of  the  French  people,  heretofore 
we  have  decreed  liberty  only  as  egotists  and  for  our- 
selves. But  to-day  we  proclaun  it  in  the  face  of 
the  universe,  and  future  generations  will  find  their  glory  in 
this  decree.  "We  proclaimed  universal  liberty  yesterday, 
when  the  President  gave  the  fraternal  kiss  to  the  colored 
deputies.  I  saw  the  moment  when  the  Convention  ought  to 
decree  liberty  to  our  brothers.  The  meeting  was  not  large 
enough.  The  Convention  has  just  done  its  duty.  But  after 
having  granted  the  benefit  of  liberty,  we  must  be,  so  to  speak, 
the  moderators  of  it.    Let  us  send  to  the  Committee  of  Public 


124  GEORGES  JAUQUKS  DANTON 

Safety  and  the  Colonies,  to  combine  the  means  of  rendering 
this  decree  useful  to  humanity,  without  any  danger  to  it. 

We  dishonored  our  glory  by  mutilating  our  works.  The 
great  principles  developed  by  the  virtuous  Las  Casas  were 
misunderstood.  We  are  working  for  future  generations;  let 
us  send  forth  liberty  into  the  colonies;  to-day  the  English 
are  dead.  By  casting  liberty  into  the  New  World  it  will 
bring  forth  abundant  fruit  there ;  it  will  grow  deep  roots. 
Pitt  and  his  accomplices  will  try  in  vain  by  political  con- 
siderations to  prevent  the  enjoyment  of  this  benefit;  they 
will  be  brought  to  nought.  France  A\dll  again  assume  the 
rank  and  influence  which  her  energy,  her  soil,  and  her  popu- 
lation assure  her.  We  shall  take  pleasure  in  our  generosity, 
but  we  shall  not  extend  it  beyond  the  limits  of  wisdom. 
We  shall  cut  down  tyrants  as  we  have  crushed  faith- 
less men  who  wished  to  keep  back  the  Revolution.  Let 
us  not  lose  our  energy  let  us  launch  our  frigates,  let  us  be 
sure  of  thp  benedictions  of  the  universe  and  of  posterity,  and 
let  us  decree  the  sending  back  of  measures  for  the  examina- 
tion of  the  committee. 

[Specially  translated  by  Helen  B.  Dole.] 


DESMOULINS 


PuciE  SiMPLiCE  Camillb  Benoist  Desmoulins,  French  revolutionist, 
journalist,  and  pamphleteer,  was  born  at  Guise,  Aisne,  France,  March 
2,  1760,  and  was  guillotined  at  Paris,  April  5,  1794.  After  an  educa- 
tion at  the  College  of  Louis  le  Grande,  he  studied  law,  but  being  seized 
with  the  revolutionary  fever  of  the  time,  and  partly  because  of  a  stutter  in  his  speech, 
he  never  practiced  his  profession.  Prior  to  1789,  he  was  wont  somewhat  guardedly  to 
advocate  the  establishment  of  a  republic  for  France  after  the  ancient  and  classical 
type.  Subsequently,  on  the  dismissal  of  Necker  from  the  office  of  Director-General  of 
the  Finances, jDesmoulins  urged  the  organization  of  the  militia  of  Paris,  and  by  his  fiery 
harangues  was  instrumental  in  inciting  the  militia  and  mob  of  the  capital  to  destroy 
the  Bastille  (July  14,  1789).  Being  at  first  in  sympathy  with  the  Girondists  rather 
than  with  the  Jacobins,  his  early  idol  was  Mirabeau,  but  when  that  ruling  spirit  of  the 
era  died  (April,  1791),  Desmoulins  attached  himself  to  Danton  [and  became  with  the 
latter  and  Marat  a  leading  member  of  the  Cordeliers  Club,  a  secession  from  the  Jacobin 
organization.  Later  on,  he  became  a  member  of  the  National  Convention,  which  was 
constituted  in  May,  1792,  and  there  voted  for  the  death  of  Louis  XVL  Associated  for 
a  time  with  Robespierre,  he  however  kept  aloof  from  the  excesses  of  the  Reign  of  Ter- 
ror let  loose  upon  Paris  by  that  malignant  despot  and  his  immediate  associates,  and  at- 
tacked them  scathingly  and  those  of  the  relentless  Committee  of  Public  Safety.  For 
this  he  was  arrested  at  the  end  of  March,  1794,  and  with  Danton  was  guillotined  a  few 
days  afterward  (April  5),  his  young  wife  following  him  to  the  block  a  fortnight  later. 
In  his  journal,  "Le  Vieux  Cordelier,"  his  clement  spirit  incited  him  to  denounce  with 
much  ability  and  vigor  the  bloodthirstiness  and  wild  tumult  of  the  era.  He  also  ed- 
ited the  "  Revolutions  de  France  et  de  Brabant."  Appended  is  an  example  of  his 
oratory. 


LIVE   FREE   OR   DIE 

FEBRUARY.  1788 

ONE  difference  between  the  monarchy  ana  the  repub- 
lic, which  alone  should  suffice  to  make  the  people 
reject  with  horror  all  monarchical  rule  and  make 
them  prefer  the  republic  regardless  of  the  cost  of  its  estab- 
lishment, is  that  in  a  democracy,  though  the  people  may 

(125) 


126  DESMOULINS 

be  deceived,  yet,  at  least,  they  love  virtue.  It  is  merit 
that  they  believe  they  put  in  power  in  place  of  the  rascals 
who  are  the  very  essence  of  monarchies.  The  vices,  the 
concealments,  and  the  crimes  which  are  the  diseases  of 
republics  are  the  very  health  and  existence  of  monarchies. 
Cardinal  Richelieu  avowed  openly  in  his  political  princi- 
ples, that  "the  king  should  always  avoid  using  the  talents 
of  thoroughly  honest  men."  Long  before  him  Sal  lust  said: 
"Kings  cannot  get  along  without  rascals.  On  the  contrary, 
they  should  fear  to  trust  the  honest  and  the  upright." 

It  is,  therefore,  only  under  a  democracy  that  the  good 
citizen  can  reasonably  hope  to  see  a  cessation  of  the  tri- 
umphs of  intrigue  and  crime;  and  to  this  end  the  people 
need  only  to  be  enlightened. 

There  is  yet  this  difference  between  a  monarchy  and  the 
republic;  the  reigns  of  Tiberius,  of  Claudius,  of  Nero,  of 
Caligula,  of  Domitian,  had  happy  beginnings.  In  fact,  all 
reigns  make  a  joyous  entry,  but  only  as  a  delusion.  There- 
fore the  Royalists  laugh  at  the  present  state  of  France  as 
if  its  violent  and  terrible  entry  under  the  republic  must 
always  last. 

Everything  gives  umbrage  to  a  tyrant.  If  a  citizen  have 
popularity,  he  is  becoming  a  rival  to  the  prince.  Conse- 
quently, he  is  stirring  up  civil  strife,  and  is  a  suspect.  If, 
on  the  contrary,  he  flee  popularity  and  seclude  himself  in 
the  corner  of  his  own  fireside,  this  retired  life  makes  him 
remarked,  and  he  is  a  suspect.  If  he  is  a  rich  man,  there 
is  an  imminent  peril  that  he  corrupt  the  people  with  his 
largesses,  and  he  is  a  suspect.  Are  you  poor?  How  then! 
Invincible  emperors,  this  man  must  be  closely  watched;  no 
one  so  enterprising  as  he  who  has  nothing.  He  is  a  suspect  I 
Are  you  in  character  sombre,  melancholy,  or  neglectful? 


LIVE    FREE    OR    DIE  127 

You  are  afflicted  by  the  condition  of  public  affairs,  and 
are  a  suspect. 

If,  on  the  contrary,  the  citizen  enjoy  himself  and  have 
resultant  indigestion,  he  is  only  seeking  diversion  because 
his  ruler  has  had  an  attack  of  gout,  which  made  his  Majesty 
realize  his  age.  Therefore  he  is  a  suspect.  Is  he  virtuous 
and  austere  in  his  habits  ?  Ah!  he  is  a  new  Brutus  with  his 
Jacobin  severity,  censuring  the  amiable  and  well-groomed 
court.  He  is  a  suspect.  If  he  be  a  philosopher,  an  orator, 
or  a  poet,  it  will  serve  him  ill  to  be  of  greater  renown  than 
those  who  govern,  for  can  it  be  permitted  to  pay  more  at- 
tention to  the  author  living  on  a  fourth  floor  than  to  the 
emperor  in  his  gilded  palace?     He  is  a  suspect. 

Has  one  made  a  reputation  as  a  warrior — he  is  but  the 
more  dangerous  by  reason  of  his  talent.  There  are  many 
resources  with  an  inefficient  general.  If  he  is  a  traitor  he 
cannot  so  quickly  deliver  his  army  to  the  enemy.  But  an 
officer  of  merit  like  an  Agricola — if  he  be  disloyal,  not  one 
can  be  saved.  Therefore,  all  such  had  better  be  removed 
and  promptly  placed  at  a  distance  from  the  array.  Yes,  he 
is  a  suspect. 

Tacitus  tells  us  that  there  was  anciently  in  Rome  a  law 
specifying  the  crimes  of  "16se-majest^."  That  crime  car- 
ried with  it  the  punishment  of  death.  Under  the  Roman 
republic  treasons  were  reduced  to  but  four  kinds,  viz., 
abandoning  an  army  in  the  country  of  an  enemy;  exciting 
sedition;  the  maladministration  of  the  public  treasury;  and 
the  impairment  by  inefficiency  of  the  majesty  of  the  Roman 
people.  But  the  Roman  emperors' needed  more  clauses,  that 
they  could  place  cities  and  citizens  under  proscription. 

Augustus  was  the  first  to  extend  the  list  of  offences  that 
were   "16se-majest^"  or   revolutionary,  and  under  his  sue- 


128  DESMOUUNS 

cessors  the  extensions  were  made  until  none  was  exempt. 
The  slightest  action  was  a  state  offence.  A  simple  look,  sad- 
ness, compassion,  a  sigh,  even  silence  was  "  lese-majeste  " 
and  disloyalty  to  the  monarch.  One  must  needs  show  joy 
at  the  execution  of  their  parent  or  friend  lest  they  would 
perish  themselves.  Citizens,  liberty  must  be  a  great  benefit, 
since  Cato  disembowelled  himself  rather  than  have  a  king. 
And  what  king  can  we  compare  in  greatness  and  heroism  to 
the  Cffisar  whose  rule  Cato  would  not  endure  ?  Rousseau 
truly  says :  "  There  is  in  liberty  as  in  innocence  and  virtue 
a  satisfaction  one  only  feels  in  their  enjoyment  and  a  pleasure 
which  can  cease  only  when  they  are  lost." 


THE  APPEAL  TO  THE  PEOPLE 

SPEECH  DELIVERED  DURING  THE  TRIAL  OF  LOUIS  XVI 

SHALL  France  become  a  republic,  or  shall  she  seek  in  a 
monarchy  repose  from  her  weariness  of  the  never- 
ceasing  treacheries  of  her  representatives  ?  Shall  we 
become  a  part  of  the  Prussian  or  Austrian  monarchies,  or 
shall  France  be  divided  into  federated  republics?  Shall 
Paris,  as  the  price  of  her  civism  and  sacrifices,  wade  in  blood  ? 
Will  you  decree  her  complete  destruction,  the  depopulation  of 
eighty-four  provinces,  and  perhaps  fifty  years  of  civil  war? 
What  do  I  say !  Will  it  be  you  yourselves  who  affirm  that 
you  merit  the  scaffold  ?  Such  is  the  extraordinary  argument 
that,  I  maintain,  has  come  to  be  the  order  of  the  day!  Such 
are  the  days  of  peace,  of  order,  of  happiness  that  you  propose 
to  give  to  the  worn-out  nation,  such  the  judgment  you  demand 
against  your  very  selves ! 

I  hear  ceaseless  talk  of  our  appearance  in  the  eyes  of  Europe 


THE  APPEAL  TO  THE  PEOPLE  J29 

and  of  posterity ;  in  all  honesty  let  us  understand  ourselves ! 
If  it  be  true  that  the  gaze  of  Europe  and  of  future  generations 
is  to  rest  upon  us,  how  can  it  refrain  from  being,  I  do  not  say 
on  the  part  of  Europe  (for  in  her  present  state  of  degradation 
she  has  no  right  to  despise  any  one),  but  on  the  part  of  pos- 
terity, mth  the  utmost  contempt? 

What!  We  call  ourselves  the  National  Convention  of 
France,  that  is  to  say,  the  revolutionary  representation,  and, 
until  the  veto  of  the  Sovereign  All-powerful,  of  twenty-four 
millions  of  men.  There  presides  over  us  the  image  of  the 
first  Brutus,  and  searching  among  the  ruins  of  antiquity  we 
gather  up  the  lightest  words  of  his  followers,  the  name  alone 
being  sufficient  to  cause  the  enthusiastic  adoption  of  the  most 
unjust  motions. 

Differing  from  each  other  in  opinions,  all  are  united  in 
vieing  with  each  other  for  the  name  of  Brutus,  and  yet  here 
are  four  months  that  seven  hundred  and  forty  of  us,  each  a 
would-be  Brutus,  deliberate  gravely  whether  a  tyrant  be  not 
inviolable. 

The  Brutus  of  ISTancy,  Salle,  debates;  listen,  citizens, 
these  are  his  words :  "  Whether  it  be  not  to  tarnish  his 
memory  with  an  iniquitous  regicide ;  "  and  the  Brutus  of  Per- 
pignan,  Biroteau,  not  being  able  to  imagine  even  why  the 
Republicans  demand  the  death  of  Louis  because  he  is  a  king, 
elegantly  characterizes  the  opinions  of  his  ancestors  as  the 
croakings  of  frogs  in  a  marsh. 

These  interminable  discussions  between  our  Brutus-like 
and  Cassius-like  members,  the  voice  of  whose  conscience  will 
not  permit  the  putting  to  death  of  a  perjured  king  who  has 
been  both  a  Caesar  and  a  Catiline  combined,  will  have  at  least 
the  good  effect  of  allowing  the  so-called  tyrants  of  debate  to 
obtain  a  hearing. 

Vol.  4—9 


130  DESMOULINS 

What  a  strange  part,  during  the  rule  of  tyranny,  of  the 
triumvirate,  of  the  dictatorship,  has  been  mine  in  an  assembly 
where,  for  four  months,  it  has  not  once  been  possible  for  me 
to  express  my  opinions  without  being  called  to  order  by  the 
Convention. 

I  am  permitted  then  once  to  mount  the  tribune,  and  to  rise 
to  the  height  of  Lanjuinais  and  of  Bizot,  whose  sole  fault  in 
the  eyes  of  the  insignificant  Edme  consists  in  being  too 
learned.  I  come  in  my  turn,  and  I  have  no  mind  to  let  escape 
this  unique  occasion  for  showing  you  what  I  think  of  our 
political  situation,  so  closely  allied  to  this  discussion  that  I 
shall  not  be  obliged  to  depart  from  the  order  of  the  day. 

I  am  far  from  being  discouraged !  Read  the  annals  of  all 
nations  and  you  see  how  a  few  good  men  have  sufficed  to 
counterbalance  the  power,  the  intrigues,  and  the  multitude  of 
the  evil-minded. 

See  the  republic  in  Holland,  so  long  hanging  on  the  verge 
of  ruin,  sustained  by  a  Barneveldt,  the  two  Carneilles,  and 
Jean  de  Witt ;  by  Pym,  Hampden,  and  John  Hollis  in  Eng- 
land ;  by  Cato  and  Cicero  in  Rome !  See  Cato  alone  bravely 
battling  against  the  genius  and  victories  of  Caesar  solely  by 
his  probity  and  patriotism!  Call  to  mind  how  in  all  times 
there  has  been  this  woeful  dearth  of  patriots,  unwavering 
and  of  noble  character ! 

Behold  the  conspirators  against  Caesar,  on  the  morrow  of 
the  most  glorious  of  tyrannicides  obliged  to  seek  shelter  in 
flight  from  the  fury  of  the  populace !  Look  backward  upon 
the  last  century  in  Europe;  call  to  mind  that  it  is  not  long 
since  a  man  who  had  done  nothing  save  travel  all  his  life 
said  that  he  would  gladly  have  remained  in  some  one  city, 
had  he  found  a  single  place  where  power  and  influence  were 
in  the  hands  of  worthy  men !     Look  again  at  the  English 


THE  APPEAL  TO  THE  PEOPLE  ^31 

Parliament, — and  not  only  at  the  crowds  of  pensioners  of  the 
G-eorges,  but  at  the  party  of  the  Opposition, — that  is  but  a 
comedy  and  a  sham  of  Publicola  to  banish  from  the  English 
people  all  idea  of  nominating  champions-  for  themselves  by 
making  them  believe  that  defenders  were  already  to  be  found 
in  the  House  of  Commons,  and  then  say  what  hopes  should 
the  country  and  generation  not  cherish,  when  it  counts  in  this 
assembly,  not  only  one  or  two,  but  more  than  a  hundred  mem- 
bers, determined,  as  Robespierre  has  said,  to  defend  the  cause 
of  liberty  as  did  Hampden  and  Sidney,  and  to  bring  their 
own  heads  to  the  scaffold  rather  than  betray  her. 

Nevertheless  I  must  admit  that  I  have  never  less  desired 
the  Republic  than  since  we  have  the  Republic.  What  is  it 
in  short  that  constitutes  a  republic?  Montesquieu  has  told 
you  that  it  is  the  equality  of  rights ;  and  the  Constituent  As- 
sembly that  had  proclaimed  this  equality  had  said,  "  The 
law,  which,  whether  it  protect  or  whether  it  punish,  is  equal 
for  all,"  had  made  of  France  a  republic,  whatever  name  it  had 
given  to  the  constitution,  for  it  is  not  the  name  that  the 
notary  gives  to  the  document,  but  the  substance  of  it,  that  de- 
termines its  character.  It  was  then  correct  to  say  that  we 
became  a  republic  in  1789,  as  it  now  appears  true  that  we 
have  once  again  become  a  monarchy  in  1793,  since  while  all 
of  us  have  agreed  that  Louis  was  a  traitor  and  condemned 
him  to  death  you  reserve  to  him  the  appeal  to  the  people.  Tell 
me  no  more  that  you  are  republicans,  that  you  have  in  your 
hearts  the  hatred  of  royalty ! 

You,  republicans  !  You  do  not  believe  it  even  yourselves  ! 
You  well  know  that  in  the  sight  of  republicans  all  men  are 
equal !  I  deceive  myself ;  you  well  know  that  there  is  but  a 
single  man  that  the  true  republican  is  uuable  to  regard  as  a 
Tjian  m  whona  he  is  jiot  able  to  see,  lil^e  Cato  and  like  Honker, 


132  DESMOULINS 

only  an  anthropophagous  biped,  and  that  this  hostile  animal 
is  a  king !  We  do  not  ask  that,  like  Cato,  you  degrade  Louis 
Capet  below  the  human  race  and  that  you  rank  him  with  wild 
beasts,  but  that  at  least  you  do  not  make  of  him  a  privileged 
being  and  one  by  nature  superior.  Do  not  talk  to  me  of 
"  reasons  of  state,"  for  since  you  have  made  of  France  a  re- 
public, and  after  you  have  condemned  Louis  Capet  to  death 
for  his  crimes,  to  bring  into  use  for  him  the  privilege  of 
appeal  that  is  denied  to  other  malefactors  is  to  lay  violent 
hands  on  the  doctrine  of  equality,  is  to  overthrow  the  Republic 
and  your  work.  Certainly  the  first  "  reason  of  state  "  is  for 
us  to  maintain  the  Republic. 

If,  instead  of  feeling  within  the  depths  of  our  hearts  that 
hatred  which  every  republican  has  for  a  tyrant,  you  devise 
for  him  a  privilege ;  if  you  can  look  upon  the  throne  as  an 
enchanted  scaffold  from  which  this  brigand  sees  the  miserable 
beings  whom  he  plunders  and  assassinates  prostrate  themselves 
trembling  at  his  feet,  it  is  the  base  blood  of  slaves  and  not 
that  of  Brutus  that  runs  in  your  veins^  and  I  thrust  you  back 
among  these  aristocrats,  these  despicable  Feuillants  who  on 
the  24th  of  September,  having  risen  royalists,  have  retired  to 
rest  republicans. 

You  seek  in  vain  to  palliate  this  royalism  by  an  alternative 
that  has  been  widely  proclaimed  —  either  the  nation  desires 
the  death  of  Louis  or  it  does  not  desire  it ;  in  the  first  case 
the  judgment  will  be  confirmed,  in  the  second  the  sovereign 
has  the  right  to  veto  it. 

At  the  first  glance  this  alternative  is  its  own  answer  to 
those  who  have  brought  it  forward.  Either  they  believe  that 
the  nation  wishes  the  death  of  the  tyrant  and  therefore  appeal 
is  useless;  or  they  are  in  doubt  if  it  wishes  it;  that  is  to  say, 
whether  all  the  citizens  desire  that  justice  shall  be  the  same 


THE  APPEAL  TO  THE  PEOPLE  ^  ^^33 

for  every  one;  it  is  to  say  whether  the  French  people  are 
republicans ;  but  if  they  doubt  whether  the  nation  be  republi- 
can, why  do  they,  who  pretend  so  great  respect  for  the  will  of 
the  sovereign  people,  why,  I  say^  do  they  not  fear  to  offend 
it  in  decreeing  the  republic?  Why  did  they  not  at  that  time 
bring  forward  this  alternative?  Either  the  people  desire  the 
republic  or  they  do  not  desire  it! 

Why,  when  it  is  a  question  of  prosecuting  this  scoundrel, 
convicted  of  a  thousand  crimes,  as  they  themselves  avow,  why 
this  appeal  of  the  Convention  to  the  nation  which  Iras  not  de- 
manded it,  although  it  is  a  question  of  changing  its  govern- 
ment and  uprooting  a  monarchy  that  has  endured  for  fifteen 
centuries.  Why?  Here  it  is,  and  it  is  of  the  utmost  impor- 
tance that  it  should  be  known. 

It  is  because  on  the  21st  of  September,  1792,  the  aristo- 
crats were  still  held  in  check  by  fear — of  all  masters  the  one 
whose  lessons  are  soonest  forgotten — that  to-day  royalism 
everywhere  begins  to  rear  its  insolent  head ;  it  is  in  one  word 
that  on  the  21st  of  September  the  plot  for  ci'sdl  war  and  feder- 
alism had  not  been  matured. 

Who  cannot  see  between  the  two  alternatives  of  the 
dilemma  yet  a  third,  which  is  inevitable  and  leads  directly  to 
civil  war!  The  greatest  absurdity  of  this  alternative  lies  in 
the  impossible  supposition  that  the  entire  nation  is  united  in 
its  desire  either  for  or  against  the  death  of  the  tyrant,  and 
in  not  recognizing,  what  is  incontrovertible,  that  while  one 
portion  of  the  nation  will  it,  another  portion  does  not. 
Rabaud,  who  finds  the  reasoning  of  Salle  irrefutable,  has  not 
seen  that  the  dilemma  lacked  this  third  fact  without  which  it 
could  not  be  sustained.  It  is  impossible  to  dispute  the  possi- 
bility of  this  alternative  tliat  one  section  of  a  province  will 
vote  white  while  another  will  vote  black  —  and  from  that 


134  DESMOULINS 

time  behold  us  embarked  upon  a  sea  which  has  neither  bottom 
nor  shores. 

For  I  can  readily  distinguish  a  minority  in  a  tribunal,  in  a 
nation,  in  a  convention,  in  a  commission,  in  any  assembly  of 
delegates  whatever,  but  in  the  chaos  occasioned  by  the  decay 
and  dissolution  of  an  ancient  government,  and  when  a  people 
desires  a  new  constitution,  it  is  the  greatest,  the  most  difficult 
question  of  public  rights  to  determine  either  majority  or 
minority  in  the  early  and  elementary  assemblies. 

All  the  speakers  on  the  same  side  who  have  preceded  me 
have  not  failed  to  point  out  the  bad  faith  of  these  appellants 
who,  glossing  over,  by  a  pretended  respect  for  their  sovereign, 
an  edict  for  civil  war,  display  themselves  so  shamelessly  that 
in  the  same  decree  they  do  not  scruple  to  circumscribe  the  peo- 
ple in  the  subjects  of  their  deliberations,  and  to  enclose  the 
nation  within  the  circle  of  Popilius. 

How  they  are  to  be  pitied,  these  delegates  whose  constitu- 
ents impose  upon  them  this  order;  how  the  primary  assemblies 
will  respond  to  Vergniaud,  Gensonne,  Buzot,  and  Brissot? 
"  Who  are  you  to-day?  Do  you  not  know  that  the  power  of 
representatives  ceases  from  the  moment  that  the  represented 
appear,  and  that  fiction  disappears  before  reality?"  This 
maxim  of  Jean  Jacques  Rousseau  is  so  trite  and  so  incontro- 
vertible that  even  in  the  palmiest  days  of  the  reign  of  the 
aristocracy,  that  is  to  say  in  the  time  of  the  Roman  senate,  all 
the  power  of  the  conscript  fathers  was  not  able  to  conceal  the 
fact  that  it  was  not  possible  to  convene  the  Senate  on  the  day 
of  the  comitia,  the  people  not  beinii;  able  to  recognize  any  other 
power  or  any  other  will  co-existent  with  its  own  from  the  mo- 
ment when  it  should  rise  and  extend  over  the  whole  empire 
its  sovereign  hand. 

Already,  despite  your  decree  that  condemns  to  death  who- 


THE    APPEAL    TO    THE    PEOPLE  135 

ever  shall  propose  the  re-establishment  of  a  monarchy,  are  we 
not  deluged  with  writings  in  which  it  is  maintained  that  the 
republic  is  only  provisional  ?  Do  you  doubt  that  in  your  pri- 
mary assemblies,  at  least  in  some  of  them,  evil-minded  men 
are  not  found  to  plead  the  cause  of  the  kingdom  along  with 
that  of  the  king?  On  the  frontiers,  where  you  had  at  least 
a  hundred  thousand,  yes,  two  hundred  thousand  patriots  who 
perished,  are  aristocrats  who,  no  longer  having  hope  from  the 
enemy  from  without,  hope  everything  from  the  enemy  that  is 
within,  and  return  to  their  own  provinces;  or  political  exiles 
who  return  from  all  directions,  until  Paris  is  completely  filled, 
and  who,  despoiled  of  everything,  battle  desperately  for  the 
restoration  of  the  monarchy  and  their  own  fortunes.  And 
take  heed,  citizens,  in  case  this  appeal  to  the  people  is  made, 
that  the  people  do  not  claim  it  again!  It  is  the  time  when  the 
tyrants  of  Europe  behold  their  own  danger,  if  they  do  not  ruin 
us,  seeing  that,  as  Lord  Longborough  said  recently  in  the 
House  of  Lords,  "  Your  enactment  of  the  15th  of  November 
is  hostile  to  all  governments,  and  gives  to  all  rebels  daggers 
upon  the  blades  of  which  is  written,  '  There  shall  be  no 
kings.'  " 

Meantime  I  tremble  when  I  reflect  upon  the  extreme  neces- 
sity on  the  part  of  tyrants  to  overthrow  the  republic,  recalling 
the  corruption  of  our  manners,  of  our  egotism.  I  seem  to  see 
these  tyrants,  with  their  evil  minions,  prowling  about  our 
maritime  cities  to  gain  influence  among  the  Jacobins  in  our 
army,  within  our  walls,  and  above  all  in  the  Convention, 
everywhere  to  purchase  at  any  price  whoever  is  not  incorrupt- 
ible, addressing  themselves  by  turns  to  the  love  of  royalty, 
to  cupidity^  to  fear,  to  fanaticism,  to  self-love,  to  jealousy,  to 
hatred,  to  patriotism  itself,  which  they  mislead,  and  unite  all 
their  interests,   all  their  fury,  against  our  country.     How 


136  DESMOULINS 

much  do  you  require,  you,  to  prevent  the  condemnation  to  the 
scaffold  and  the  execution,  in  effigy,  of  all  kings  in  one,  while 
you  wait  to  pledge  yourselves  to  the  monarchy?  And  you,  to 
betray  the  city  before  a  million  eyes,  in  the  sight  of  which  it 
will  ever  be  impossible  for  you  to  frame  a  constitution  for  the 
aristocracy  ?  And  you,  how  much  do  you  demand  to  ruin  this 
city,  the  terror  of  intriguers?  And  you,  to  disaffect  and  dis- 
unite this  coalition  of  Jacobin  societies,  the  terror  of  kings? 
And  you,  popular  agitators,  sellers  of  patriotism,  how  much  do 
you  ask?  And  you,  pusillanimous  judges,  who  have  in  your 
view  the  tragic  end  of  Charles  I,  how  much  do  you  require  to 
cure  your  fear,  to  release  you  from  responsibility  by  an  ap- 
peal to  the  people,  and  in  any  case  to  procure  for  you  a  retreat 
in  London,  by  aiding  Pitt  to  obtain  this  appeal?  And  you, 
hypocrites  of  a  disappointing  and  disorganizing  philosophy, 
how  much  do  you  ask  to  gain  over  to  your  interests  the  hypo- 
crites of  religion?  And,  you,  finally,  whose  complicity  with 
the  tyrant  cannot  fail  to  be  discovered  sooner  or  later,  in  fact 
has  already  become  known,  despite  the  .precautions  of  Roland, 
what  is  the  amount  of  your  bribe  ? 

Take  heed,  therefore,  citizens,  how-  our  common  enemies 
hasten  to  convoke  these  primary  assemblies,  and,  in  short,  how 
favorable  is  the  moment  for  them.  It  is  when,  by  force  of 
tactics  obliging  us  by  continual  attacks  to  think  of  our  own 
defence,  by  giving  us  no  place  on  committees,  by  not  allowing 
us  to  approach  the  tribune,  that  the  impossibility  of  doing 
anything  for  the  Republic  has  been  forced  upon  us;  it  is  when, 
for  four  months,  the  national  convention,  the  hope  of  the  uni- 
verse, and  which  should  be  the  theatre  of  its  enfranchisement, 
has  been  seldom  other  than  an  arena  for  gladiators  and  a 
court-room  where  Master  Scevola,  holding  thirty  audiences 
until  six  o'clock  at  night  to  plead  the  inviolability  of  the 


THE    APPEAL    TO    THE    PEOPLE  137 

tyrant^  has  covered  us  with  ridicule  in  the  eyes  of  posterity. 
It  is  when,  during  four  months,  the  real  triumvirs  who  negoti- 
ated with  the  king  have,  with  a  perversity  unparalleled,  de- 
voted themselves  to  the  calumniation  of  the  most  worthy 
citizens,  and  to  the  banishment  from  the  tribune  of  all  those 
respected  on  account  of  their  good  sense  and  unwavering 
patriotism,  who  have  made  themselves  masters  of  all  our 
deliberations  and  have  drawn  the  assembly  into  the  most 
impolitic  measures. 

We  at  least  cannot  be  accused ;  and  if  the  Convention  has 
done  nothing  for  the  Republic  we  are  absolved,  since  we  have 
been  made  a  powerless  minority.  Thanks,  then,  be  rendered 
to  Vergniaud  and  to  those  who,  calling  themselves  the  major- 
ity, have  shielded  us  from  public  indignation,  and  have  so 
nobly  taken  the  pains  to  justify  us,  by  this  single  word,  before 
the  primary  assemblies,  before  Europe,  and  before  posterity. 
Here  is  my  draft  for  the  proposed  decree : 

''  The  National  Convention  declares  that  Louis  Capet 
merits  death.  It  hereby  decrees  that,  accordingly,  a  scaffold 
shall  be  erected  in  the  Place  Carrousel,  whither  Louis  shall 
be  conveyed,  bearing  a  placard  with  these  words  in  front, 
'  Perjured  and  a  traitor  to  the  nation,'  and  behind,  '  King,' 
to  show  to  all  peoples  that  to  it  may  not  be  ascribed  the  dis- 
honor of  the  crime  of  continuing  a  monarchy  which  has  en- 
dured even  fifteen  hundred  years. 

"  Decrees  further,  that  the  vault  of  kings  at  St.  Denis  shall 
be  henceforth  the  burial-place  of  thieves,  assassins,  and  of 
traitors. 

"  Orders  the  Minister  of  Justice  and  the  Commandant  of 
the  National  Guard  to  render  account  to  it  within  twenty-four 
hours  of  the  execution  of  the  foregoing  decree." 

[Special   translation   by   Mary  E.   Adams.] 


ALBERT    GALLATII^ 

Jlbert  Gallatix,  an  American  statesman  and  financier,  and  for  twelve 
years  (1801-13)  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  was  born  at  Geneva,  Switzer- 
land, Jan.  29,  1761,  and  died  at  Astoria,  N.  Y.,  Aug.  12,  1849.  He 
was  educated  at  the  University  of  Geneva,  but  came  to  America  in 
1780,  and  served  as  a  volunteer  in  the  Continental  Army.  In  1783,  he  became  for 
a  year  professor  of  French  at  Harvard  University,  and  in  the  following  year 
settled  in  Pennsylvania,  and  was  elected  to  Congress  from  that  State.  Owing 
to  the  fact,  however,  of  his  having  been  so  few  years  a  resident  of  the  New 
World  he  was  not  allowed  to  take  his  seat  until  1795.  He  served  three  terms 
as  Representative,  and  in  1801  was  appointed  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  by  Jef- 
ferson, having  already  won  reputation  as  an  able  student  of  finance  by  his 
"Sketch  of  Finances"  (1796);  and  "Views  of  Public  Debt,"  (1800).  Gallatin 
remained  at  the  head  of  the  Treasury  Department,  doing  excellent  work,  and 
on  account  of  his  financial  knowledge  and  good  judgment,  second  only  in  that 
respect  to  Alexander  Hamilton,,  was  influential  in  directing  the  retrenchment 
policy  of  the  government  and  shaping  its  attitude  in  the  matter  of  financial 
reform.  In  1813,  he  went  to  St.  Petersburg  as  envoy  extraordinary ;  but  upon 
the  English  refusal  of  the  mediation  of  Russia  he  proceeded  to  Ghent,  where 
he  and  his  associates  negotiated  and  signed  the  treaty  of  peace  (Dec.  24, 
1814).  A  year  afterward  he,  with  Adams  and  Clay,  signed  a  commercial  con- 
vention between  England  and  the  United  States.  Declining  to  resume  his 
former  post  at  the  head  of  the  Treasury,  he  accepted  that  of  minister  to  France, 
which  he  held  between  the  years  1816  and  1823.  In  the  latter  year  he  again  re- 
fused a  Cabinet  position  and  also  a  nomination  for  the  Vice-presidency  in  1826, 
though  he  served  for  a  year  (1827)  as  minister  to  England.  In  1830,  he  was 
chosen  president  of  the  council  of  the  University  of  the  City  of  New  York,  and 
he  filled  the  oflBce  of  president  of  the  National  Bank,  1830-39.  Gallatin's 
political  views  were  those  of  a  moderate  anti-Federalist.  He  was  greatly  inter- 
ested in  science,  and  was  not  only  the  first  president  of  the  American  Ethno- 
logical Society,  but  president  of  the  New  York  Historical  Society  from  1843 
until  his  death.  His  writings,  in  six  volumes,  edited  by  Henry  Adams,  ap- 
peared  in   1879.     See   also   the   same    editor's  "  Life   of   Albert  Gallatin." 


SPEECH   ON   THE  BRITISH   PEACE   TREATY 

TERMINATING  THE  WAR  OF   1812-u 

[A  treaty  of  amity,  commerce,  and  navigation  between  the  United  States  and 
Great  Britain  was  concluded  on  the  nineteenth  of  November,  1794.  Subse- 
quently it  was  ratified  by  the  President.  On  the  second  of  March,  1796,  the 
President  proclaimed  it  the  law  of  the  land,  and  the  same  day  communicated 
it  to  the  House  of  Representatives  in  order  that  the  necessary  appropriations 
might  be  made  to  carry  it  into  effect.  On  the  twenty-sixth  of  April  following^ 
in  Committee  of  the  Whole,  on  the  subjoined  resolution:  "Resolved,  as  the 
opinion  of  this  Committee,  that  it  is  expedient  to  pass  the  laws  necessary  for 
carrying  into  effect  the  treaty  with  Great  Britain,"  Mr.  Gallatin  spoke  thus:] 
(138) 


M 


ON    THE    BRITISH    PEACE    TREATY  139 

R.  CHAIRMAN, — I  will  not  follow  some  of  the  gen- 
tlemen who  have  preceded  me  by  dwelling  upon  the 
discretion  of  the  legislature;  a  question  which  has 
already  been  the  subject  of  our  deliberations,  and  been  decided 
by  a  solemn  vote.  Gentlemen  who  were  in  the  minority  on 
that  question  may  give  any  construction  they  please  to  the 
declaratory  resolution  of  the  House ;  they  may  again  repeat 
that  to  refuse  to  carry  the  treaty  into  effect  is  a  breach  of  the 
public  faith  which  they  conceive  as  being  pledged  by  the 
President  and  Senate. 

This  has  been  the  ground  on  which  a  difference  of  opinion 
has  existed  since  the  beginning  of  the  discussion.  It  is  be- 
cause the  House  thinks  that  the  faith  of  the  nation  cannot, 
on  those  subjects  submitted  to  the  power  of  Congress,  be 
pledged  by  any  constituted  authority  other  than  the  legisla- 
ture, that  they  resolved  that  in  all  such  cases  it  is  their  right 
and  duty  to  consider  the  expediency  of  carrying  a  treaty  into 
effect.  If  the  House  think  the  faith  of  the  nation  already 
pledged  they  cannot  claim  any  discretion ;  there  is  no  room 
left  to  deliberate  upon  the  expediency  of  the  thing.  The 
resolution  now  under  consideration  is  merely  "  that  it  is  expe- 
dient to  carrv  the  British  treatv  into  effect,"  and  not  whether 
we  are  bound  by  national  faith  to  do  it.  I  will  therefore  con- 
sider the  question  of  expediency  alone ;  and,  thinking  as  I  do 
that  the  House  has  full  discretion  on  this  subject,  I  conceive 
that  there  is  as  much  responsibility  in  deciding  in  the  affirma- 
tive as  in  rejecting  the  resolution,  and  that  we  shall  be  equally 
answerable  for  the  consequences  that  may  follow  from  either. 

It  is,  however,  true  that  there  was  a  great  difference  be- 
tween the  situation  of  this  country  in  the  year  1794,  when  a 
negotiator  was  appointed,  and  that  in  which  we  are  at  present; 
and  that  consequences  will  follow  the  refusal  to  carry  into 


140  ALBERT    GALLATIN 

effect  the  treaty  in  its  present  stage  which  would  not  have 
attended  a  refusal  to  negotiate  and  to  enter  into  such  a  treaty. 
The  question  of  expediency  therefore  assumes  before  us  a  dif- 
ferent and  more  complex  shape  than  when  before  the  negoti- 
ator, the  Senate,  or  the  President.  The  treaty  in  itself  and 
abstractedly  considered  may  be  injurious;  it  may  be  such  an 
instrument  as  in  the  opinion  of  the  House  ought  not  to  have 
been  adopted  by  the  Executive ;  and  yet  such  as  it  is  we  may 
think  it  expedient  under  the  present  circumstances  to  carry  it 
into  effect.  I  will  therefore  first  take  a  view  of  the  pro- 
visions of  the  treaty  itself,  and  in  the  next  place,  supposing  it 
is  injurious,  consider,  in  case  it  is  not  carried  into  effect,  what 
will  be  the  nr.tural  consequences  of  such  refusal. 

The  provisions  of  the  treaty  relate  either  to  the  adjustment 
of  past  differences  or  to  the  future  intercourse  of  the  two  na- 
tions. The  differences  now  existing  between  Great  Britain 
and  this  country  arose  either  from  non-execution  of  some  arti- 
cles of  the  treaty  of  peace  or  from  the  effects  of  the  present 
European  war.  The  complaints  of  Great  Britain  in  relation 
to  the  treaty  of  1783  were  confined  to  the  legal  impediments 
thrown  by  the  several  States  in  the  way  of  the  recovery  of 
British  debts.  The  late  treaty  provides  adequate  remedy  on 
that  subject;  the  United  States  are  bound  to  make  full  and 
complete  compensation  for  any  losses  arising  from  that 
source,  and  every  ground  of  complaint  on  the  part  of  Great 
Britain  is  removed. 

Having  thus  done  full  justice  to  the  other  nation,  America 
has  a  right  to  expect  that  equal  attention  shall  be  paid  to  her 
claims  arising  from  infractions  of  the  treaty  of  peace,  namely, 
compensation  for  the  negroes  carried  away  by  the  British; 
restoration  of  the  western  posts,  and  indemnification  for  their 
detention. 


ON    THE    BRITISH    PKACK    TREATY  141 

On  the  subject  of  the  first  claim  which  has  been  objected  to 
as  groundless,  I  will  observe  that  I  am  not  satisfied  that  the 
construction  given  by  the  British  government  to  that  article 
of  the  treaty  is  justified  even  by  the  letter  of  the  article. 
That  construction  rests  on  the  supposition  that  slaves  come 
under  the  general  denomination  of  booty,  and  are  alienated 
the  moment  they  fall  into  the  possession  of  an  enemy,  so 
that  all  those  who  were  in  the  hands  of  the  British  when  the 
treaty  of  peace  was  signed  must  be  considered  as  British  and 
not  as  American  property,  and  are  not  included  in  the  article. 

It  will,  however,  appear,  by  recurring  to  Vattel  when 
speaking  of  the  right  of  ''  Postliminium,"  that  slaves  cannot 
be  considered  as  a  part  of  the  booty  which  is  alienated  by  the 
act  of  capture,  and  that  they  are  to  be  ranked  rather  with  real 
property,  to  the  profits  of  which  only  the  captors  are  entitled. 
Be  that  as  it  may,  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  construction  given 
by  America  is  that  which  was  understood  by  the  parties  at  the 
time  of  making  the  treaty.  The  journals  of  Mr.  Adams, 
quoted  by  a  gentleman  from  Connecticut,  Mr.  Coit,  prove  this 
fully;  for  when  he  says  that  the  insertion  of  this  article  was 
alone  worth  the  journey  of  Mr.  Laurens  from  London,  can  it 
be  supposed  that  he  would  have  laid  so  much  stress  on  a  clause 
which,  according  to  the  new  construction  now  attempted  to  be 
given,  means  only  that  the  British  would  commit  no  new  act 
of  hostility — would  not  carry  away  slaves  at  that  time  in  pos- 
session of  Americans?  Congress  recognized  that  construction 
by  adopting  the  resolution  which  has  been  already  quoted,  and 
which  was  introduced  upon  the  motion  of  Mr.  Alexander 
Hamilton,  and  it  has  not  been  denied  that  the  British  minis- 
try during  Mr.  Adams'  embassy  also  agreed  to  it. 

But  when  our  negotiator  had,  for  the  sake  of  peace,  waved 
that  claim;  when  he  had  also  abandoned  the  right  which 


142  ALBKRT    GALLATIN 

America  had  to  demand  an  indemnification  for  the  detention 
of  the  posts,  although  he  had  conceded  the  right  of  a  similar 
nature  which  Great  Britain  had  for  the  detention  of  debts; 
when  he  had  thus  given  up  everything  which  might  be  sup- 
posed to  he  of  a  doubtful  nature,  it  might  have  been  hoped 
that  our  last  claim — a  claim  on  which  there  was  not  and  there 
never  had  been  any  dispute — the  western  posts  should  have 
been  restored  according  to  the  terms  of  the  treaty  of  peace. 

Upon  what  ground  the  British  insisted  and  our  negotiator 
conceded  that  this  late  restitution  should  be  saddled  with  new 
conditions  which  made  no  part  of  the  original  contract  I  am  at 
a  loss  to  know.  British  traders  are  allowed  by  the  new  treaty 
to  remain  within  the  posts  without  becoming  citizens  of  the 
United  States;  and  to  carry  on  trade  and  commerce  with  the 
Indians  living  within  our  boundaries  without  being  subject  to 
any  control  from  our  government.  In  vain  is  it  said  that  if 
that  clause  had  not  been  inserted  we  would  have  found  it  to 
our  interest  to  effect  it  by  our  own  laws.  Of  this  we  are  alone 
competent  judges;  if  that  condition  is  harmless  at  present  it 
is  not  possible  to  foresee  whether  under  future  circumstances 
it  will  not  prove  highly  injurious;  and  whether  harmless  or  not 
it  is  not  less  a  permanent  and  new  condition  imposed  upon  us. 
But  the  fact  is  that  by  the  introduction  of  that  clause,  by 
obliging  us  to  keep  within  our  jurisdiction  as  British  subject^-. 
the  very  men  who  have  been  the  instruments  used  by  Great 
Britain  to  promote  Indian  wars  on  our  frontiers;  by  obliging 
us  to  suffer  those  men  to  continue  their  commerce  with  the 
Indians  living  in  our  territory,  uncontrolled  by  those  regula- 
tions which  we  have  thought  necessary  in  order  to  restrain 
our  own  citizens  in  their  intercourse  with  these  tribes,  Great 
Britain  has  preserved  her  full  influence  with  the  Indian  na- 
tions.    By  a  restoration  of  the  posts  under  that  condition  we 


ON  THE  BRITISH  PEACE  TREATY  143 

have  lost  the  greatest  advantage  that  was  expected  from  their 
possession,  namely,  future  security  against  the  Indians.  In 
the  same  manner  have  the  British  preserved  the  commercial 
advantages  which  result  from  the  occupancy  of  those  posts  by 
stipulating  as  a  permanent  condition  a  free  passage  for  their 
goods  across  our  portages  without  paying  any  duty. 

Another  article  of  the  new  treaty  which  is  connected  with 
the  provisions  of  the  treaty  of  1783  deserves  consideration;  I 
mean  what  relates  to  the  Mississippi.  At  the  time  when  the 
navigation  of  that  river  to  its  mouth  was  by  the  treaty  of  peace 
declared  to  be  common  to  both  nations,  G^eat  Britain  com- 
municated to  America  a  right  which  she  held  by  virtue  of 
the  treaty  of  1763  and  as  owner  of  the  Floridas;  but  since  that 
cession  to  the  United  States,  England  has  ceded  to  Spain  her 
claim  on  the  Floridas  and  does  not  own  at  the  present  time  an 
inch  of  ground  either  on  the  mouth  or  on  any  part  of  that 
river.  Spain  now  stands  in  the  place  of  Great  Britain,  and  by 
virtue  of  the  treaty  of  1783  it  is  to  Spain  and  America,  and 
not  to  England  and  America,  that  the  navigation  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi is  at  present  to  be  common. 

Yet,  notwithstanding  this  change  of  circumstances,  we  have 
repeated  this  article  of  the  former  treaty  in  the  late  one,  and 
have  granted  to  Great  Britain  the  additional  privilege  of  using 
our  ports  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  river,  without  which,  as 
they  own  no  land  thereon,  they  could  not  have  navigated  it. 
ISTor  is  this  all.  Upon  a  supposition  that  the  Mississippi  does 
not  extend  so  far  northward  as  to  be  intersected  by  a  line 
drawn  due  west  from  the  Lake  of  the  Woods,  or,  in  other 
words,  upon  a  supposition  that  Great  Britain  has  not  a  claim 
even  to  touch  the  Mississippi,  we  have  agreed,  not  upon  what 
will  be  the  boundary  line,  but  that  we  will  hereafter  nego- 
tiate to  settle  that  line. 


144  ALBERT    GALLATIN 

Thus  lea"ving  to  future  negotiations  what  should  have  been 
finally  settled  by  the  treaty  itself,  in  the  same  manner  as  all 
other  differences  were,  is  calculated  for  the  sole  purpose  either 
of  la^dng  the  foundation  of  future  disputes  or  of  recognizing 
a  claim  in  Great  Britain  on  the  waters  of  the  ll^Iississippi,  even 
if  their  boundary  line  leaves  to  the  southward"  the  sources  of 
that  river. 

Had  not  that  been  the  intention  of  Great  Britain,  the  line 
would  have  been  settled  at  once  by  the  treaty  according  to 
either  of  the  two  only  rational  ways  of  doing  it  in  conformity 
to  the  treaty  of  1783 ;  that  is  to  say,  by  agreeing  that  the  line 
should  run  from  the  northernmost  sources  of  the  ]\Iississippi 
either  directly  to  the  western  extremity  of  the  Lake  of  the 
Woods,  or  northwardly  till  it  intersected  the  line  to  be  drawn 
due  west  from  that  lake.  But  by  repeating  the  article  of  the 
treaty  of  1783,  by  conceding  the  free  use  of  our  ports  on  the 
river,  and  by  the  insertion  of  the  fourth  article,  we  have  ad- 
mitted that  Great  Britain  in  all  possible  events  has  still  a  right 
to  navigate  that  river  from  its  source  to  its  mouth.  What 
may  be  the  future  effects  of  these  provisions,  especially  as 
they  regard  our  intercourse  with  Spain,  it  is  impossible  at  pres- 
ent to  say ;  but  although  they  can  bring  us  no  advantage  they 
may  embroil  us  with  that  nation;  and  we  have  already  felt  the 
effect  of  it  in  our  late  treaty  \vith  Spain,  since  we  were 
obliged,  on  account  of  that  clause  of  the  British  treaty,  to 
accept  as  a  gift  and  a  favor  the  navigation  of  that  river 
which  we  had  till  then  claimed  as  a  right. 

The  seventh  article  of  the  treaty  is  intended  to  adjust  those 
differences  which  arose  from  the  effects  of  the  present  Euro- 
pean war.  On  that  article  it  may  also  be  observed  that  whilst 
it  provides  a  full  compensation  for  the  claims  of  the  British,  it 
is  worded  in  such  a  manner,  when  speal.ing  of  the  indemnifica- 


ON  THE  BRITISH  PEACH  TREATY  145 

tion  for  spoliations  committed  on  the  American  commerce,  as 
will  render  it  liable  to  a  construction  very  unfavorable  to  our 
just  claims  on  that  ground.  The  commissioners  to  be  ap- 
pointed by  virtue  of  that  article  are  to  take  cognizance  and 
to  grant  redress  only  in  those  cases  where,  by  reason  of  irreg- 
ular or  illegal  captures  or  condemnation,  made  under  color 
of  authority  or  commissions  from  the  King  of  Great  Britain, 
losses  have  been  incurred,  and  where  adequate  compensation 
cannot  now  be  actually  obtained  by  the  ordinary  course  of 
judicial  proceedings. 

If  Great  Britain  should  insist  that  since  the  signing  of  the 
treaty  they  had,  by  admitting  appeals  to  their  superior  courts, 
afforded  a  redress  by  the  ordinary  course  of  judicial  proceed- 
ings; if  those  courts  were  to  declare  that  the  captures  com- 
plained of  were  neither  illegal  nor  made  under  color,  but  by 
virtue  of  authority  or  commissions  from  the  king;  and  if  that 
construction  should  prevail  with  the  commissioners,  the  in- 
demnification which  our  plundered  merchants  would  actually 
receive  in  consequence  of  the  provisions  of  this  article  would 
fall  very  short  of  their  expectations  and  of  their  just  claims. 
Yet  this  article,  considering  the  relative  situation  of  the  two 
countries  at  the  time  when  the  negotiation  took  place,  is  as 
much  as  could  reasonably  have  been  expected  by  America. 
When  a  weak  nation  has  to  contend  with  a  powerful  one  it  is 
gaining  a  great  deal  if  the  national  honor  is  saved  even  by  the 
shadow  of  an  indemnification  and  by  an  apparent  concession 
on  the  part  of  the  aggressor;  and  however  objectionable  the 
article  might  appear  at  first  view,  I  am,  on  the  whole,  satisfied 
with  it. 

The  remaining  provisions  of  the  treaty  have  no  connection 
with  past  differences;  they  make  no  part  of  the  convention 
which  was  the  avowed  object  of  Mr.  Jay's  mission;  they  apply 

Vol.  4—10 


146  ALBERT    GALLATIN 

solely  to  the  future  intercourse  of  the  two  nations  as  relating 
to  commerce  and  navigation;  and  had  they  been  entirely 
omitted  our  differences  would  havebeen  nevertheless  adjusted. 
It  is  agreed  on  all  hands  that,  so  far  as  relates  to  our  commerce 
with  Great  Britain,  we  want  no  treaty.  The  intercourse,  al- 
though useful  perhaps  to  both  parties,  is  more  immediately 
necessary  to  England,  and  her  own  interest  is  a  sufficient 
pledge  of  her  granting  us  at  all  times  a  perfect  liberty  of  com- 
merce to  her  European  ports.  If  we  want  to  treat  with  her 
it  must  be  in  order  to  obtain  some  intercourse  with  her  colo- 
nies and  some  general  security  in  our  navigation.   .  .  . 

Whatever  evils  may  follow  a  rejection  of  the  treaty,  they 
will  not  attend  a  postponement.  To  suspend  our  proceedings 
will  not  throw  us  into  a  situation  which  will  require  new 
negotiations,  new  arrangements  on  the  points  already  settled 
and  well  understood  by  both  parties.  It  will  be  merely  a 
delay  until  an  explanation  of  the  late  conduct  of  the  British 
toward  us  may  be  obtained,  or  until  that  conduct  may  be 
altered.  If,  on  the  contrary,  we  consent  to  cany  the  treaty 
into  effect  under  the  present  circumstances,  what  will  be  our 
situation  in  future  ?  It  is  by  committing  the  most  wanton 
and  the  most  unprovoked  aggressions  on  our  trade;  it  is  by 
seizing  a  large  amount  of  our  property  as  a  pledge  for  our 
good  behavior,  that  Great  Britain  has  forced  the  nation  into 
the  present  treaty. 

If  by  threatening  new  hostilities,  or  rather  by  continuing 
her  aggressions,  even  after  the  treaty  is  made,  she  can  force  us 
also  to  carry  it  into  effect,  our  acquiescence  will  be  tantamount 
to  a  declaration  that  we  mean  to  submit  in  proportion  to  the 
insults  that  are  offered  to  us,  and  this  disposition  being  once 
known,  what  security  have  we  against  new  insults,  new  ag- 
gressions, new  spoliations  which  probably  will  lay  the  founda- 


ON    THE    BRITISH    PEACE    TREATY  14"/ 

tion  of  some  additional  demands  on  the  part  of  the  aggressor, 
and  of  some  additional  sacrifice  on  ours  ?  It  has  been  said, 
and  said  with  truth,  that  to  put  up  with  the  indignities  we 
have  received  without  obtaining  any  reparation,  which  will 
probably  be  the  effect  of  defeating  the  treaty,  is  highly  dis- 
honorable to  the  nation.  In  my  opinion  it  is  still  more  so  not 
only  tamely  to  submit  to  a  continuation  of  these  national  in- 
sults, but,  while  they  thus  continue  uninterrupted,  to  carry 
into  effect  the  instrument  we  have  consented  to  accept  as  a 
reparation  for  former  ones.  When  the  general  conduct  of 
Great  Britain  towards  us  from  the  beginning  of  the  present 
war  is  considered,  when  the  means  by  which  she  has  produced 
the  treaty  are  reflected  on,  a  final  compliance  on  our  part 
while  she  still  persists  in  that  conduct,  whilst  the  chastening 
rod  of  that  nation  is  still  held  over  us,  is  in  my  opinion  a  dere- 
liction of  national  interest,  of  national  honor,  of  national 
independence. 

But  it  is  said  that  war  must  be  the  consequence  of  our  delay- 
ing to  carry  the  treaty  into  effect.  Do  the  gentlemen  mean 
that  if  we  reject  the  treaty,  if  we  do  not  accept  the  repara- 
tion there  given  to  us,  in  order  to  obtain  redress,  we  have  no 
alternative  left  but  war?  If  we  must  go  to  war  in  order  to 
obtain  reparation  for  insults  and  spoliations  on  our  trade,  we 
must  do  it  even  if  we  carry  the  present  treaty  into  effect,  for 
this  treaty  gives  us  no  reparation  for  the  aggressions  com- 
mitted since  it  was  ratified,  has  not  produced  a  discontinuance 
of  those  acts  of  hostility,  and  gives  us  no  security  that  they 
shall  be  discontinued. 

But  the  arguments  of  those  gentlemen  who  suppose  that 
America  must  go  to  war  apply  to  a  final  rejection  of  the  treaty 
and  not  to  a  delay.  I  do  not  propose  to  refuse  the  reparation 
offered  by  the  treaty  and  to  put  up  with  the  aggressions  com- 


148  ALBERT    GALLATIN 

mitted ;  I  have  agreed  that  that  reparation,  such  as  it  is,  is  a 
valuable  article  of  the  treaty;  I  have  agreed  that  under  the 
present  circumstances  a  greater  evil  will  follow  a  total  re- 
jection of  than  an  acquiescence  in  the  treaty.  The  only 
measure  which  has  been  mentioned  in  preference  of  the  one 
now  under  discussion  is  a  suspension,  a  postponement  whilst 
the  present  spoliations  continue,  in  hopes  to  obtain  for  them  a 
similar  reparation  and  assurances  that  they  shall  cease. 

But  is  it  meant  to  insinuate  that  it  is  the  final  intention  of 
those  who  pretend  to  wish  only  for  a  postponement  to  involve 
this  country  in  a  war  ?  There  has  been  no  period  during  the 
present  European  war  at  which  it  would  not  have  been  equally 
weak  and  wicked  to  adopt  such  measures  as  must  involve 
America  in  the  contest  unless  forced  into  it  for  the  sake  of 
self-defence ;  but,  at  this  time,  to  think  of  it  would  fall  but 
little  short  of  madness.  The  whole  American  nation  would 
rise  in  opposition  to  the  idea,  and  it  might  at  least  have  been 
recollected  that  war  cannot  be  declared  except  by  Congress, 
and  that  two  of  the  branches  of  government  are  sufficient  to 
check  the  other  in  any  supposed  attempt  of  this  kind. 

If  there  is  no  necessity  imposed  upon  America  to  go  to 
war,  if  there  is  no  apprehension  she  will  by  her  own  conduct 
involve  herself  in  one,  the  danger  must  arise  from  Great 
Britain,  and  the  threat  is  that  she  will  make  war  against  us  if 
we  do  not  comply.  Gentlemen  first  tell  us  that  we  have  made 
the  best  possible  bargain  with  that  nation ;  that  she  has  con- 
ceded everything  without  receiving  a  single  iota  in  return; 
and  yet  they  would  persuade  us  that  she  will  make  war  against 
us  in  order  to  force  us  to  accept  that  contract  so  advantageous 
to  us  and  so  injurious  to  herself.  It  will  not  be  contended  that 
a  delay  until  an  amicable  explanation  is  obtained  could  afford 
even  a  pretence  to  Great  Britain  for  going  to  war,  and  we  all 


ON    THE    BRITISH    PEACE    TREATY  149 

know  that  her  own  interest  would  prevent  lier.  If  another 
campaign  takes  place  it  is  acknowledged  that  all  her  efforts 
are  to  be  exerted  against  the  West  Indies.  She  has  pro- 
claimed her  own  scarcity  of  provisions  at  home,  and  she  must 
depend  on  our  supplies  to  support  her  armament. 

It  depends  upon  us  to  defeat  her  whole  scheme,  and  this  is 
a  sufficient  pledge  against  open  hostility  if  the  European  war 
continues.  If  peace  takes  place  there  will  not  be  even  the  ap- 
pearance of  danger;  the  moment  when  a  nation  is  happy 
enough  to  emerge  from  one  of  the  most  expensive,  bloody, 
and  dangerous  wars  in  which  she  ever  has  been  involved  will 
be  the  last  she  would  choose  to  plunge  afresh  into  a  similar 
calamity. 

But  to  the  cry  of  war  the  alarmists  do  not  fail  to  add  that 
of  confusion,  and  they  have  declared,  even  on  this  floor,  that 
if  the  resolution  is  not  adopted  government  will  be  dissolved. 
Government  dissolved  in  case  a  postponement  takes  place! 
The  idea  is  too  absurd  to  deserve  a  direct  answer.  But  I  will 
ask  those  gentlemen,  by  whom  government  is  to  be  dissolved  ? 
Certainly  not  by  those  who  may  vote  against  the  resolution, 
for  although  they  are  not  perhaps  fortunate  enough  to  have 
obtained  the  confidence  of  the  gentlemen  who  voted  against 
them,  still  it  must  be  agreed  that  those  who  succeed  in  their 
wishes,  who  defeat  a  measure  they  dislike,  will  not  wish  to 
destroy  that  government  which  they  hold  so  far  in  their  hands 
as  to  be  able  to  carry  their  own  measures.  For  them  to  dis- 
solve government  would  be  to  dissolve  their  own  power.  By 
whom  then,  I  again  ask,  is  the  government  to  be  dissolved  ? 

The  gentlemen  must  answer — by  themselves — or  they  must 
declare  that  they  mean  nothing  but  to  alarm.  Is  it  really  the 
language  of  those  men  who  profess  to  be,  who  distinguish 
themselves  by  the   self-assumed  appellation   of,  friends  to 


150  ALBERT    GALLATIN 

order,  th^t  if  they  do  not  succeed  in  all  their  measures  they 
will  overset  government  —  and  have  all  their  professions 
been  only  a  veil  to  hide  their  love  of  power,  a  pretence  to 
cover  their  ambition? 

Do  they  mean  that  the  first  event  which  shall  put  an  end  to 
their  own  authority  shall  be  the  last  act  of  government  ?  As 
to  myself,  I  do  not  believe  that  they  have  such  intentions ;  I 
have  too  good  an  opinion  of  their  patriotism  to  allow  myself 
to  admit  such  an  idea  a  single  moment,  but  I  think  myself 
justifiable  in  entertaining  a  belief  that  some  amongst  them, 
in  order  to  carry  a  favorite,  and  what  they  think  to  be  an  ad- 
vantageous measure,  mean  to  spread  an  alarm  which  they  do 
not  feel,  and  I  have  no  doubt  that  many  have  contracted  such 
a  habit  of  carrying  every  measure  of  government  as  they 
please,  that  they  really  think  that  everything  must  be  thrown 
into  confusion  the  moment  they  are  thwarted  in  a  matter  of 
importance.  I  hope  that  experience  will  in  future  cure  their 
fears. 

But  at  all  events,  be  the  wishes  and  intentions  of  the  mem- 
bers of  this  House  what  they  may,  it  is  not  in  tHeir  power  to 
dissolve  the  government.  The  people  of  the  United  States, 
from  one  end  of  the  continent  tOf  the  other,  are  strongly  at- 
tached to  their  constitution ;  they  would  restrain  and  punish 
the  excesses  of  any  party,  of  any  set  of  men  in  government 
who  would  be  guilty  of  the  attempt,  and  on  them  I  will  rest 
as  a  full  security  against  every  endeavor  to  destroy  our  union, 
our  constitution,  or  our  government. 

But  although  I  am  not  afraid  of  a  dissolution,  I  feel  how 
highly  desirable  is  a  more  general  union  of  sentiment ;  I  feel 
the  importance  of  an  agreement  of  opinion  between  the  dif- 
ferent branches  of  government,  and  oven  between  the  mem- 
bers of  the  same  branch.      T  w^uld  sacrifiro  much  to  obtain 


ON    THE    BRITISH    PEACE    TREATY  151 

that  object;  it  has  been  one  of  the  most  urging  motives  with 
me  to  be  in  favor^  not  of  a  rejection,  but  only  of  a  suspension 
of  a  delay.  But  even  as  a  matter  of  opinion  it  is  difficult  to 
say  which  mode  of  proceeding  in  this  house  will  best  accord 
with  the  general  sentiments  of  the  people. 

So  far  as  relates  to  the  petitions  before  us,  the  number  of 
signatures  against  the  treaty  exceeds,  at  the  moment  I  am 
speaking,  the  number  of  those  in  favor  of  the  treaty. 
Amongst  the  last,  some  have  come  from  one  part  of  the  Union, 
where  it  seems,  both  from  the  expressions  in  the  petition  it- 
self and  from  the  proceedings  there,  that  a  great  inducement 
in  the  petitioners  to  sign  was  a  wish  to  carry  the  treaty  with 
Spain  into  effect,  as  they  appear  to  suppose  that  its  fate  de- 
pends upon  that  of  the  British  treaty.  How  they  would  act 
upon  the  British  treaty  alone  and  unconnected  with  the  other 
I  do  not  know,  nor  have  I  any  evidence  which  enables  me  to 
form  an  opinion  thereon.  All  I  know  is  that  until  the 
Spanish  treaty  was  made  they  were  perfectly  silent  on  the 
subject  of  the  other  treaty  and  never  expressed  an  opinion 
upon  it  alone. 

True  it  is  that  an  alarm  which  has  produced  a  combination 
has  lately  taken  place  amongst  the  merchants  of  this  and  some 
other  seaports.  What  effect  it  will  have,  and  how  successful 
they  will  eventually  be  in  spreading  this  alarm  amongst  the 
people  at  large,  I  caunot  tell,  but  there  are  circumstances  ac- 
companying their  petition  which,  in  my  opinion,  much  dim- 
inish the  weight  they  otherwise  might  have  had.  They  have 
undoubtedly  a  right  to  petition  upon  every  public  measure 
where  they  think  themselves  interested,  and  their  petitions 
deserve  equal  regard  with  those  of  their  fellow  citizens 
throughout  the  United  States. 

But  on  this  occasion,  in  order  to  create  an  alarm,  in  order 


152  ALBERT    GALLATIN 

to  induce  the  people  to  join  them,  in  order  to  force  the  House 
to  pass  the  laws  relative  to  the  treaty,  they  have  formed  a 
dangerous  combination,  and  affected  to  cease  insuring  vessels, 
purchasing  produce,  and  transacting  any  business. 

A  gentleman  from  New  York,  Mr.  Williams,  has  been  so 
much  alarmed  himself  that  he  has  predicted  a  fall  in  the  price 
of  every  kind  of  produce,  and  seems  indeed  to  have  supposed 
that  the  clamors  of  a  few  individuals  here  would  either  put 
an  end  to  or  satisfy  the  wants  of  those  nations  which  depend 
on  us  for  supplies  of  provisions.  Yet  it  has  so  happened, 
and  it  is  a  complete  proof  that  the  whole  is  only  an  alarm,  that 
whilst  we  have  been  debating,  the  price  of  flour,  which  was  of 
very  dull  sale  two  weeks  ago,  has  risen  in  equal  proportion 
with  the  supposed  fears  of  the  purchasers.  I  cannot  help 
considering  the  cry  of  war,  the  threats  of  a  dissolution  of 
government,  and  the  present  alarm,  as  designed  for  the  same 
purpose,  that  of  making  an  impression  on  the  fears  of  this 
House.  It  was  through  the  fear  of  being  involved  in  a  war 
that  the  negotiation  with  Great  Britain  originated ;  under  the 
impression  of  fear  the  treaty  has  been  negotiated  and  signed ; 
a  fear  of  the  same  danger,  that  of  war,  has  promoted  its  rati- 
fication, and  now  every  imaginary  mischief  which  can  alarm 
our  fears  is  conjured  up  in  order  to  deprive  us  of  that  dis- 
cretion which  this  House  thinks  they  have  a  right  to  exercise, 
and  in  order  to  force  us  to  carr}'  the  treaty  into  effect. 

If  the  people  of  the  United  States  wish  this  House  to  carry 
the  treaty  into  effect  immediately,  and  notwithstanding  the 
continued  aggressions  of  the  British,  if  their  will  was  fairly 
and  fully  expressed,  I  would  immediately  acquiesce;  but  since 
an  appeal  has  been  made  to  them  it  is  reasonable  to  suspend  a 
decision  until  their  sentiments  are  known. 

Till  then  T  must  follow  my  o%vn  judgment,  and  as  I  cannot 


ON  THE  BRITISH  PEACE  TREATY  153 

see  that  any  possible  evils  will  follow  a  dela^',  I  shall  vote 
against  the  resolution  before  the  committee  in  order  to  make 
room  either  for  that  proposed  by  my  colleague,  Mr.  Maclay,  or 
for  any  other,  expressed  in  any  manner  whatever,  provided  it 
embraces  the  object  I  have  in  view,  to  wit,  the  suspension  of 
the  final  vote — a  postponement  of  the  laws  necessary  to  carry 
the  treaty  into  effect  until  satisfactory  assurances  are  obtained 
that  Great  Britain  means  in  future  to  show  us  that  friendly 
disposition  which  it  is  my  earnest  wish  may  at  all  times  be 
cultivated  by  America  towards  all  other  nations. 


SAMUEL    DEXTER 

'amuel  Dextek,  LL.  D.,  an  American  jurist  and  politician,  was  born  at 
Boston,  Mass.,  May  14,  1761,  and  died  at  Athens,  N.  Y.,  May  4,  1816. 
He  was  the  .fon  of  a  wealthy  merchant,  prominent  as  a  patriot  during 
the  American  Revolution,  and  was  educated  at  Harvard  University.  He 
studied  law  at  Worcester,  Mass.,  and  after  practicing  there  with  success  removed  to 
Boston,  which  continued  to  he  his  home  henceforward.  In  his  political  views  he 
was  a  Federalist  and  sided  with  that  party  on  his  entrance  into  the  Ignited  States 
Senate  in  1798.  In  1800,  he  was  for  a  short  time  secretary  of  war  and  in  the  fol- 
lowing year  filled  the  post  of  secretary  of  the  treasury.  His  professional  duties 
called  him  to  Washington  yearly  in  the  conduct  of  important  cases  before  the  Su- 
preme Court,  where  as  an  able  reasoner  and  advocate  he  was  surpassed  by  few  of 
his  contemporaries.  He  separated  from  the  Federalists  in  1812,  at  which  time  he 
supported  the  war  policy  of  the  government  against  England.  His  chief  published 
works  are  his  "Speeches  and  Political  Papers." 


ARGUMENT   IN   SELFRIDGE'S  TRIAL 

[Delivered  in  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court  of  ^Massachusetts,  at  the  trial  of 
Thomas  O.  Selfridge,  attorney-at-law,  for  killing  Charles  Austin,  on  the  public  Ex- 
change, in  Boston,  on  the  4th  of  August,  1806.] 


M 


AY  IT  PLEASE  YOUR  HONOR,  AXD  YOU,  GEN- 
TLEMEN OF  THE  JURY,— It  is  my  duty  to  sub- 
mit to  your  consideration  some  observations  in  the 
close  of  the  defence  of  this  important  and  interesting  cause. 
In  doing  it,  though  I  feel  perfectly  satisfied  that  you  are 
men  of  pure  minds,  yet  I  reflect  with  anxiety  that  no  exertion 
or  zeal  on  the  part  of  the  defendant's  counsel  can  possibly 
insure  justice  unless  you  likewise  perform  your  duty.  Do 
not  suppose  that  I  mean  to  suggest  the  least  suspicion  with 
respect  to  your  principles  or  motives.  I  know  you  to  have 
been  selected  in  a  manner  most  likely  to  obtain  impartial 
justice ;  and  doubtless  you  have  honestly  resolved  and  endeav- 
ored to  lav  aside  all  opinions  which  von  may  have  entertained 
(154) 


ARGUMKXT    iN    t>KLFUIDGE's    TKIAL  155 

previous  to  this  trial.  But  the  difficulty  of  doing  this  is  per- 
haps not  fully  estimated ;  a  man  deceives  himself  of tener  than 
he  misleads  others;  and  he  does  injustice  from  his  errors 
when  his  principles  are  all  on  the  side  of  rectitude.  To  ex- 
hort him  to  overcome  his  prejudices  is  like  telling  a  blind 
man  to  see.  He  may  be  disposed  to  overcome  thern  and  yet 
be  unable,  because  they  are  unknown  to  himself.  When 
prejudice  is  once  known  it  is  no  longer  prejudice,  it  becomes 
corruption;  but  so  long  as  it  is  not  known  the  possessor  cher- 
ishes it  without  guilt:  he  feels  indignation  for  vice  and  pays 
homage  to  virtue;  and  yet  does  injustice.  It  is  the  appre- 
hension that  you  may  thus  mistake,  that  you  may  call  your 
prejudices  principles,  and  believe  them  such,  and  that  their 
effects  may  appear  to  you  the  fruits  of  virtue,  which  leads  us 
so  anxiously  to  repeat  the  request  that  you  would  examine 
your  hearts  and  ascertain  that  you  do  not  come  here  with 
partial  minds.  In  ordinary  cases  there  is  no  reason  for  this 
precaution.  Jurors  are  so  appointed  by  the  institutions  of 
our  country  as  to  place  them  out  of  the  reach  of  improper 
influence  on  common  occasions, — at  least  as  much  so  as  frail 
humanity  will  permit. 

But  when  a  cause  has  been  a  long  time  the  subject  of  party 
discussion ;  wdien  every  man  among  us  belongs  to  one  party 
or  the  other,  or  at  least  is  so  considered ;  when  the  Democratic 
presses  throughout  the  country  have  teemed  with  publications 
fraught  with  appeals  to  the  passions  and  bitter  invective 
against  the  defendant,  when  on  one  side  everything  has  been 
done  that  party  rage  could  do  to  prejudice  this  cause,  and  on 
the  other  little  has  been  said  in  vindication  of  the  supposed 
offender  (though  on  one  occasion  I  admit  that  too  much  has 
been  said) ;  when  silence  has  been  opposed  to  clamor,  and 
patient  waiting  for  a  trial  to  systematic  labor  to  prevent  jus- 


150  SAMUiil.    DKXTEU 

tice;  when  the  frionHs  of  the  accused,  restrained  bv  respect 
for  the  laws,  have  kept  silence  because  it  was  the  exclusive 
right  of  a  court  of  justice  to  speak ;  when  no  voice  has  been 
heard  from  the  walls  of  the  defendant's  prison  but  a  request 
that  he  may  not  be  condemned  without  a  trial, — the  necessary 
consequence  must  be  that  opinion  will  progress  one  way;  that 
the  stream  of  incessant  exertion  will  wear  a  channel  in  the 
public  mind,  and  the  current  may  be  strong  enough  to  carry 
away  those  who  may  be  jurors,  though  they  know  not  how 
or  when  they  received  the  impulse  that  hurries  them  forward. 

I  am  fortunate  enough  not  to  know  with  respect  to  most 
of  you  to  what  political  party  you  belong.  Are  you  Repub- 
lican Federalists?  I  ask  you  to  forget  it:  leave  all  your  polit- 
ical opinions  behind  you;  for  it  would  be  more  mischievous 
that  you  should  acquit  the  defendant  from  the  influence  of 
these  than  that  an  innocent  man,  by  mistake,  should  be  con- 
victed. In  the  latter  case  his  would  be  the  misfortune  and  to 
him  it  would  be  confined ;  but  in  the  other  you  \dolate  a  prin- 
ciple, and  the  consequence  may  be  ruin.  Consider  what 
would  be  the  effect  of  an  impression  on  the  public  mind  that 
in  consequence  of  party  opinion  and  feelings  the  defendant 
was  acquitted.  Would  there  still  be  recourse  to  the  laws  and 
to  the  justice  of  the  country?  Would  the  passions  of  the 
citizen  in  a  moment  of  frenzy  be  calmed  by  looking  forward 
to  the  decision  of  courts  of  law  for  justice?  Rather  every 
individual  would  become  the  avenger  of  imaginary  transgres- 
sion. Violence  would  be  repaid  with  violence;  havoc  would 
produce  havoc;  and  instead  of  a  peaceable  recurrence  to  the 
tribunals  of  justice  the  spectre  of  civil  discord  would  be  seen 
stalking  through  our  streets  scattering  desolation,  misery,  and 
crimes. 

Such    may    be    the    consequences    of    indulging    political 


ARGUMENT    IN    SELFRIDGE'S    TRIAL 


157 


prejudice  on  this  day;  and  if  so,  yon  are  amenable  to  your 
country  and  your  God.  This  I  say  to  you  who  are  Federal- 
ists ;  and  have  I  not  as  much  right  to  speak  thus  to  those  who 
are  Democratic  Kepublicans?  That  liberty  which  you  cherish 
with  so  much  ardor  depends  on  your  preserving  yourselves 
impartial  in  a  court  of  justice.  It  is  proved  by  the  history  of 
man,  at  least  of  civil  society,  that  the  moment  the  judicial 
power  becomes  corrupt  liberty  expires.  What  is  liberty  but 
the  enjoyment  of  your  rights  free  from  outrage  or  danger? 
And  what  security  have  you  for  these  but  an  impartial  admin- 
istration of  justice?  Life,  liberty,  reputation,  property,  and 
domestic  happiness  are  all  under  its  peculiar  protection.  It 
is  the  judicial  power  uncorrupted  that  brings  to  the  dwelling 
of  every  citizen  all  the  blessings  of  civil  society  and  makes  it 
dear  to  man.  Little  has  the  private  citizen  to  do  with  the 
other  branches  of  government.  What  to  him  are  the  great 
and  splendid  events  that  aggrandize  a  few  eminent  men  and 
make  a  figure  in  history?  His  domestic  happiness  is  not  less 
real  because  it  will  not  be  recorded  for  posterity;  but  this 
happiness  is  his  no  longer  than  courts  of  justice  protect  it. 

It  is  true  injuries  cannot  always  be  prevented;  but  while 
the  fountains  of  justice  are  pure  the  sufferer  is  sure  of  a 
recompense. 

Contemplate  the  intermediate  horrors  and  final  despotism 
that  must  result  from  mutual  deeds  of  vengeance  when  there 
is  no  longer  an  impartial  judiciary  to  which  contending  par- 
ties may  appeal  with  full  confidence  that  principles  will  be 
respected.  Fearful  must  be  the  interval  of  anarchy;  fierce 
the  alternate  pangs  of  rage  and  terror,  till  one  party  shall 
destroy  the  other  and  a  gloomy  despotism  terminate  the  strug- 
gles of  conflicting  factions.  Again  I  beseech  you  to  abjure 
your   prejudices.      In   the    language    once    addressed   from 


158  SAMUKL    DEXTER 

heaven  to  the  Hebrew  prophet,  "  Put  off  your  shoes,  for  the 
ground  on  which  you  stand  is  holy."  You  are  the  professed 
friends,  the  devoted  w^orshippers  of  civil  liberty;  will  you  vio- 
late her  sanctuary?  Will  you  profane  her  temple  of  justice^ 
"Will  vou  commit  sacrilege  while  you  kneel  at  her  altar? 


BARNAVE 


JNTOINE  Pierre  Joseph  Makie  Baknave,  French  revolutionist,  lawyer, 
and  orator,  and  president,  in  1790,  of  the  National  Assembly,  was  born  at 
Grenoble,  France,  Oct.  22,  1761,  and  was  guillotined  at  Paris,  Nov.  29, 
1793.  He  studied  law,  and,  at  the  age  of  iwenty-two,  made  himself  favor- 
ably known  by  a  discourse  pronounced  before  the  local  Parliament  on  the  Division  of 
Political  Powers.  On  May  5,  1789,  the  States-General  were  convoked  at  Versailles, 
and  Barnave  was  chosen  deputy  of  the  Third  Estate  for  his  native  province.  Next 
to  Mirabeau,  to  whom,  on  several  occasions,  he  was  opposed,  Barnave  was  the  most 
powerful  orator  of  the  National  Assembly.  After  the  fall  of  the  Bastille,  he  advocated 
the  suspensive  veto,  the  system  of  two  Chambers,  and  the  establishment  of  trial  by 
jury  in  civil  causes,  after  which  he  became  President  of  the  Assembly.  On  the  arrest 
of  the  King  and  the  royal  family,  Barnave  was  one  of  the  three  appointed  to  conduct 
them  back  to  Paris.  It  is  said  that  on  the  occasion  he  gained  the  favor  of  the  Queen 
by  his  gallantry  to  her  on  her  return  to  the  capital  after  her  flight  with  the  King  to 
Varennes.  His  public  career  came  to  an  end  in  1792  with  the  close  of  the  Constituent 
Assembly.  Shortly  afterward  he  was  arrested  and  imprisoned,  on  suspicion  of  being  in 
sympathy  with  the  royal  family  and  of  conspiring  with  the  court  against  the  nation. 
For  this,  in  1793,  he  died  by  the  guillotine. 


REPRESENTATIVE  DEMOCRACY  AGAINST  MAJORITY 

ABSOLUTISM 

DELIVERED  IN  THE  NATIONAL  ASSEMBLY,  AUGUST  ii,  1791 

IT  IS  not  enough  to  desire  to  be  free — one  must  know 
how  to  be  free.  I  shall  speak  briefly  on  this  subject, 
for  after  the  success  of  our  deliberations,  I  await  with 
confidence  the  spirit  and  action  of  this  Assembly.  I  only 
wish  to  announce  my  opinions  on  a  question,  the  rejection 
of  which  would  sooner  or  later  mean  the  loss  of  our  liber- 
ties. This  question  leaves  no  doubt  in  the  minds  of  those 
who  reflect  on  governments  and  are  guided  by  impartial 

(159) 


160  ANTOINE    PIERRE    JOSEPH    MARIE    BARNAVK 

judgments.  Those  who  have  combated  the  committee  have 
made  a  fundamental  error.  They  have  confounded  dem- 
ocratic government  with  representative  government;  they 
nave  confounded  the  rights  of  the  people  with  the  qualifi- 
cations of  an  elector,  which  society  dispenses  for  its  well 
understood  interest.  Where  the  government  is  representa- 
tive, where  there  exists  an  intermediary  degree  of  electors, 
society,  which  elects  them,  has  essentially  the  right  to  deter- 
mine the  conditions  of  their  eligibility.  There  is  one  right 
existing  in  our  constitution,  that  of  the  active  citizen,  but 
the  function  of  an  elector  is  not  a  right.  I  repeat,  society 
has  the  right  to  determine  its  conditions.  Those  who  mis- 
understand the  nature  as  they  do  the  advantages  of  repre- 
sentative government,  remind  us  of  the  governments  of 
Athens  and  Sparta,  ignoring  the  differences  that  distin- 
guish them  from  France,  such  as  extent  of  territory,  popu- 
lation, etc.  Do  they  forget  that  they  interdicted  repre- 
sentative government?  Have  they  forgotten  that  the  Lace- 
demonians had  the  right  to  vote  in  the  assemblies  only 
when  they  held  helots?  And  only  by  sacrifice  of  indi- 
vidual rights  did  the  Lacedemonians,  Athenians,  and 
Komans  possess  any  democratic  governments!  I  ask  those 
who  remind  us  of  them,  if  it  is  at  such  government  they 
would  arrive?  I  ask  those  who  profess  here  metaphysical 
ideas,  because  they  have  no  practical  ideas,  those  who  en- 
velop the  question  in  clouds  of  theory,  because  they  ignore 
entirely  the  fundamental  facts  of  a  positive  government — 
I  ask  is  it  forgotten  that  the  democracy  of  a  portion  of  a 
people  would  exist  but  by  the  entire  enslavement  of  the 
other  portion  of  the  people  ?  A  representative  government 
has  but  one  evil  to  fear,  that  of  corruption.  That  sucn 
*i  government  shall  be  good,  there  must  be  guaranteed  ti»e 


DEMOCRACY  AGAINST  ABSOLUTISM  161 

purity  and  incorruptibilitv  of  the  electorate.  This  body 
needs  the  union  of  three  eminent  guarantees.  First,  the 
light  of  a  fair  education  and  broadened  views.  Second,  an 
interest  in  things,  and  still  better  if  each  had  a  particular 
and  considerable  interest  at  stake  to  defend.  Third,  such 
condition  of  fortune  as  to  place  the  elector  above  attack 
from  corruption. 

These  advantages  I  do  not  look  for  in  the  superior  class 
of  the  rich,  for  they  undoubtedly  have  too  many  special  and 
individual  interests,  which  they  separate  from  the  general 
interests.  But  if  it  is  true  that  we  must  not  look  for  the 
qualifications  of  the  pure  elector  among  the  eminently  rich, 
neither  should  I  look  for  it  among  those  whose  lack  of 
fortune  has  prevented  their  enlightenment ;  among  such, 
unceasingly  feeling  the  touches  of  want,  corruption  too 
easily  can  find  its  means.  It  is,  then,  in  the  middle  class 
that  we  find  the  qualities  and  advantages  I  have  cited. 
And,  I  ask,  is  it  the  demand  that  they  contribute  five  to 
ten  francs  that  causes  the  assertion  that  we  would  throw 
elections  into  the  hands  of  the  rich  ?  You  have  established 
the  usage  that  the  electors  receive  nothing ;  if  it  were  other- 
wise their  great  number  would  make  an  election  most  ex- 
pensive. From  the  instant  that  the  voter  has  not  means 
enough  to  enable  him  to  sacrifice  a  little  time  from  his  daily 
labor,  one  of  three  things  would  occur.  The  voter  would 
absent  himself,  or  insist  on  being  paid  by  the  State,  else  he 
would  be  rewarded  by  the  one  who  wanted  to  obtain  his 
suffrage.  This  does  not  occur  when  a  comfortable  condi- 
tion is  necessary  to  constitute  an  elector.  As  soon  as  the 
government  is  established,  when  the  constitution  is  guaran- 
teed, there  is  but  a  common  interest  for  those  who  live  on 
their  property,  and  those  who  toil  honestly.     Then  can  be 

Vol.  4— u 


162  ANTOINE    PIEKUE    .lOSEPII    MARIK    UARNAVE 

distinguished  those  who  desire  a  stable  government  and 
those  who  seek  but  revolution  and  change,  since  they  in- 
crease in  importance  in  the  midst  of  trouble  as  vermin 
in  the  midst  of  corruption. 

If  it  is  true,  then,  that  under  an  established  constitu- 
tional government  all  its  well-wishers  have  the  same  inter- 
est, the  power  of  the  same  must  be  placed  in  the  hands  of 
the  enlightened  who  can  have  no  interest  pressing  on  them, 
greater  than  the  common  interest  of  all  the  citizens.  Depart 
from  these  principles  and  you  fall  into  the  abuses  of  repre- 
sentative government.  You  would  have  extreme  proverty 
in  the  electorate  and  extreme  opulence  in  the  legislature. 
You  would  see  soon  in  France  what  you  see  now  in  Eng- 
land, the  purchase  of  voters  in  the  boroughs  not  with 
money  even,  but  with  pots  of  beer.  Thus  incontestably 
are  elected  many  of  their  parliamentary  members.  Good 
representation  must  not  be  sought  in  either  extreme,  but 
in  the  middle  class.  The  committee  have  thus  placed  it 
by  making  it  incumbent  that  the  voter  shall  possess  an 
accumulation  the  equivalent  of,  say  forty  days  of  labor. 
This  would  unite  the  qualities  needed  to  make  the  elector 
exercise  his  privilege  with  an  interest  in  the  same.  It  is 
necessary  that  he  own  from  one  hundred  and  twenty  to  two 
hundred  and  forty  livres,  either  in  property  or  chattels,  I 
do  not  think  it  can  seriously  be  said  that  this  qualification 
is  fixed  too  high,  unless  we  would  introduce  among  our 
electors  men  who  would  beg  or  seek  improper  recompense. 

If  you  would  have  liberty  subsist  do  not  hesitate  because 
of  specious  arguments  which  will  be  presented  to  you  by 
those  who,  if  they  reflect,  will  recognize  the  purity  of  our 
intentions  and  the  resultant  advantages  of  our  plans.  I  add 
to  what  I  have  already  said  that  the  system  will  diminish 


COMMERCIAL    POLITICS  IHS 

many  existing  inconveniences,  and  the  proposed  law  will 
not  have  its  full  effect  for  two  years.  They  tell  us  we  are 
taking  from  the  citizen  a  right  which  elevated  him  by  the 
only  means  through  which  he  can  acquire  it.  I  reply  that 
if  it  was  an  honor  the  career  which  you  will  open  for  them 
will  imprint  them  with  character  greater  and  more  in  con- 
formity with  true  equality.  Our  opponents  have  not  failed 
either  to  magnify  the  inconveniences  of  changing  the  con- 
stitution. Nor  do  I  desire  its  change.  For  that  reason  we 
should  not  introduce  imprudent  discussions  to  create  the 
necessity  of  a  national  convention.  In  one  word,  the  advice 
and  conclusions  of  the  committee  are  the  sole  guarantees  for 
the  prosperity  and  peaceable  condition  of  the  nation. 


COMMERCIAL  POLITICS 

COMMERCE  forms  a  numerous  class,  friends  of  ex- 
ternal peace  and  internal  tranquillity,  who  attacD 
themselves  to  the  established  government. 
It  creates  great  fortunes,  which  in  republics  become  the 
origin  of  the  most  forceful  aristocracies.  As  a  rule  com- 
merce enriches  the  cities  and  their  inhabitants,  and  in- 
creases the  laboring  and  mechanical  classes,  in  opening 
more  0|jportunities  for  the  acquirement  of  riches.  To  an 
extent  it  fortifies  the  democratic  element  in  giving  the 
jjeople  of  the  cities  greater  influence  in  the  government. 
It  arrives  at  nearly  the  same  result  by  impoverishing  the 
peasant  and  landowner,  by  the  many  new  pleasures  ofl:'ered 
him  and  by  displaying  to  him  the  ostentation  and  voluptu- 
ousness of  luxury  and  ease.  It  tends  to  create  bands  of 
mercenaries  rather  than  those  capable  of  worthy  personai 


164  ANTOINE  PIERRE  JOSEPH   MARIE  BARNAVE 

service.  It  introduces  into  the  nation  luxury,  ease,  and 
avarice  at  the  same  time  as  labor. 

The  manners  and  morals  of  a  commercial  people  are  not 
the  manners  of  the  merchant.  He  individually  is  economi- 
cal, while  the  general  mass  are  prodigal.  The  individual 
merchant  is  conservative  and  moral,  while  the  general  pub- 
lic are  rendered  dissolute. 

The  mixture  of  riches  and  pleasures  which  commerce 
produces,  joined  to  freedom  of  manners,  leads  to  excesses 
of  all  kinds,  at  the  same  time  that  the  nation  may  display 
the  perfection  of  elegance  and  taste  that  one  noticed  in 
Rome,  mistress  of  the  world,  oi  in  France  before  the  Revo- 
lution. In  Rome  the  wealth  was  the  inflow  of  the  whole 
world,  the  product  of  the  hardiest  ambition,  producing  the 
deterioration  of  the  soldier  and  the  indifference  of  the  pa- 
trician. In  France  the  wealth  was  the  accumulation  of  an 
immense  commerce  and  the  varied  labors  of  the  most  indus- 
trious nation  on  the  earth  diverted  by  a  brilliant  and  cor- 
rupt court,  a  profligate  and  chivalrous  nobility,  and  a  rich 
and  voluptuous  capital. 

Where  a  nation  is  exclusively  commercial,  it  can  make 
an  immense  accumulation  of  riches  without  sensibly  altering 
its  manners.  The  passion  of  the  trader  is  avarice  and  the 
habit  of  continuous  labor.  Left  alone  to  his  instincts  he 
amasses  riches  to  possess  them,  without  designing  or  know- 
ing how  to  use  them.  Examples  are  needed  to  conduct  him 
to  prodigality,  ostentation,  and  moral  corruption.  As  a 
rule  the  merchant  opposes  the  soldier.  One  desires  the 
accumulations  of  industry,  the  other  of  conquest.  One 
makes  of  power  the  means  of  getting  riches,  the  other 
makes  of  riches  the  means  of  getting  power.  One  is  dis- 
posed  to   be   economical,   a    taste   due   to   his   labor.     The 


ORATION    FOR    THE    CROWN  155 

other  is  prodigal,  the  instinct  of  his  valor.  In  modern 
monarchies  these  two  classes  form  the  aristocracy  and  the 
democracy.  Commerce  in  certain  republics  forms  an  aris- 
tocracy, or  rather  an  "  extra  aristocracy  in  the  democracy." 
These  are  the  directing  forces  of  such  democracies,  mth  the 
addition  of  two  other  governing  powers,  which  have  come 
in,  the  clergy  and  the  legal  fraternity,  who  assist  largely  in 
shaping  the  course  of  events. 


ORATION  FOR  THE  CROWN 

TEE  French  nation  has  just  undergone  a  violent 
shock ;  but  if  we  are  to  believe  all  the  auguries  which 
are  delivered,  this  recent  event,  like  all  others  which 
have  preceded  it,  will  only  serve  to  advance  the  period,  to 
confirm  the  solidity  of  the  revolution  we  have  effected. 
I  will  not  dilate  on  the  advantages  of  monarchical  govern- 
ment; you  have  proved  your  conviction  by  establishing  it 
in  your  country;  I  ^^dll  only  say  that  every  government, 
to  be  good,  should  comprise  within  itself  the  principle 
of  its  stability;  for  otherwise  instead  of  prosperity  there 
would  be  before  us  only  the  perspective  of  a  series  of 
changes.  Some  men,  whose  motives  I  shall  not  impugn, 
seeking  for  examples  to  adduce,  have  found,  in  America, 
a  people  occupying  a  vast  territory  with  a  scanty  popu- 
lation, nowhere  surrounded  by  very  powerful  neighbors, 
having  forests  for  their  boundaries,  and  having  for  cus- 
toms the  feelings  of  a  new  race,  and  who  are  wholly 
ignorant  of  those  factitious  passions  and  impulses  which 
effect  revolutions  of  government.  They  have  seen  a  repub- 
lican government  established  in  that  land,  and  have  thence 
drawn  the  conclusion  that  a  similar  government  was  suitable 


166  AXTOINK    PIERRE    JOSEPH    MARIE    BARXAVE 

for  us.  These  men  are  the  same  who  at  this  moment  are 
contesting  the  inviolability  of  the  king.  But  if  it  be  true 
that  in  our  territory  there  is  a  vast  population  spread, — if  it 
be  true  that  there  are  amongst  them  a  multitude  of  men 
exclusively  given  up  to  those  intellectual  speculations  which 
excite  ambition  and  the  love  of  fame, — if  it  be  true  that 
around  us  powerful  neighbors  compel  us  to  form  but  one 
compact  body  in  order  to  resist  them, — if  it  be  true  that  all 
these  circumstances  are  irresistible,  and  are  wholly  inde- 
pendent of  ourselves,  it  is  undeniable  that  the  sole  existing 
remedy  lies  in  a  monarchical  government.  When  a  country 
is  populous  and  extensive,  there  are — and  political  experience 
proves  it — but  two  modes  of  assuring  to  it  a  solid  and  per- 
manent existence.  Either  you  must  organize  those  parts 
separately— you  must  place  in  each  section  of  the  empire  a 
portion  of  the  government,  and  thus  you  will  maintain  secur- 
ity at  the  expense  of  unity,  strength,  and  all  the  advantages 
which  result  from  a  great  and  homogeneous  association — 
or  else  you  will  be  forced  to  centralize  an  unchangeable 
power,  which,  never  renewed  by  the  law,  presenting  inces- 
santly obstacles  to  ambition,  resists  with  advantage  the 
shocks,  rivalries,  and  rapid  vibrations  of  an  immense  popu- 
lation, agitated  by  all  the  passions  engendered  by  long-estab- 
lished society.  These  facts  decide  our  position.  We  can 
only  be  strong  through  a  federative  government,  which  no 
one  here  has  the  madness  to  propose,  or  by  a  monarchical 
government,  such  as  you  have  established;  that  is  to  say,  by 
confiding  the  reins  of  the  executive  power  to  a  family  having 
the  right  of  hereditary  succession.  You  have  intrusted  to  an 
inviolable  king  the  exclusive  function  of  naming  the  agents 
of  his  power,  but  you  have  made  those  agents  responsible. 
To  be  independent  the  king  must  be  inviolable :  do  not  let  us 
set  aside  this  axiom.     We  have  never  failed  to  observe  this 


ORATION    FOR    THE    CROWN  Jg-J 

as  regards  indi\'idiials ;  let  us  regard  it  as  respects  the  mon- 
arch. Our  principles,  the  constitution,  the  law,  declare  that 
he  has  not  forfeited  (qu'il  n'est  pas  dechu)  ;  thus,  then,  we 
have  to  choose  between  our  attachment  to  the  constitution 
and  our  resentment  against  an  individual.  Yes;  I  demand 
at  this  moment  from  him  amongst  you  all,  who  may  have 
conceived  against  the  head  of  the  executive  power  pre- 
judices however  strong  and  resentment  however  deep;  I 
ask  at  his  hands  whether  he  is  more  irritated  against  the  king 
than  he  is  attached  to  the  laws  of  his  country  ?  I  would  say 
to  those  who  rage  so  furiously  against  an  individual  who  has 
done  wrong, — I  would  say.  Then  you  would  be  at  his  feet 
if  you  were  content  with  him?  Those  who  would  thus 
sacrifice  the  constitution  to  their  anger  against  one  man 
seem  to  me  too  much  inclined  to  sacrifice  liberty  from  their 
enthusiasm  for  some  other  man;  and  since  they  love  a  repub- 
lic it  is  indeed  the  moment  to  say  to  them.  What!  would 
you  wish  a  republic  in  such  a  nation?  How  is  it  you  do  not 
fear  that  the  same  variableness  of  the  people  which  to-day 
manifests  itself  by  hatred  may  on  another  day  be  displayed 
by  enthusiasm  in  favor  of  some  great  man? — enthusiasm 
even  more  dangerous  than  hatred;  for  the  French  nation, 
you  know,  understands  better  how  to  love  than  to  hate.  I 
neither  fear  the  attacks  of  foreign  nations  nor  of  emigrants; 
I  have  already  said  so;  but  I  now  repeat  it  with  the  more 
truth,  as  I  fear  the  continuation  of  uneasiness  and  agitation, 
which  mil  not  cease  to  exist  and  affect  us  until  the  revolution 
be  wholly  and  pacifically  concluded.  We  need  fear  no  mis- 
chief from  without;  but  vast  injury  is  done  to  us  from  within, 
when  we  are  disturbed  by  painful  ideas — when  chimerical 
dangers,  excited  around  us,  create  mth  the  people  some  con- 
sistency and  some  credit  for  the  men  who  use  them  as  a 
means  of  unceasing  agitation.     Immense  damage  is  done  to 


IBS  ANTOINE    PIERRE    JOSEPH     MARIE    BARNAVE 

US  when   that  revolutionary  impetus    which  has  destroyed 
everything  there  was  to  destroy,  and  which  has  urged  us  to 
the  point  where  we  must  at  last  pause,  is  perpetuated.     If 
the   revolution  advance   one  step  further  it  cannot  do  so 
without  danger.     In  the  line  of  liberty,  the  first  act  which 
can  follow  is   the   annihilation  of  royalty;   in   the   line  of 
equality,  the  first  act  which  must  follow  is  an  attempt  on 
all  property.    Revolutions  are  not  effected  with  metaphysical 
maxims — there  must  be  an  actual  tangible  prey  to  offer  to 
the  multitude  that  is  led  astray.    It  is  time,  therefore,  to  end 
the  revolution.     It  ought  to  stop  at  the  moment  when  the 
nation  is  free    and  when  all  Frenchmen  are  equal.     If  it 
continue  in  trouble  it  is  dishonored,  and  we  with  it;  yes,  all 
the  world  ought  to  agree  that  the  common  interest  is  in- 
volved in  the  close  of  the  revolution.     Those  who  have  lost 
ought  to  perceive  that  it  is  impossible  to  make  it  retrograde. 
Those  who  fashioned  it  must  see  that  it  is  at  its  consum- 
mation.    Kings  themselves — if  from  time  to  time  profound 
truths  can  penetrate  to  the  councils  of  kings — if  occasionally 
the  prejudices  which  surround  them  will  permit  the  sound 
views  of  a  great  and  philosophical  policy  to  reach  them — 
kings  themselves  must  learn  that  there  is  for  them  a  wide 
difference  between  the  example  of  a  great  reform  in  the  gov- 
ernment and  that  of  the  ambition  of  royalty ;  that  if  we  pause 
here,  where  we  are,  they  are  still  kings!  but  be  their  con- 
duct what  it  may,  let  the  fault  come  from  them  and  not 
from  us.  Regenerators  of  the  empire!  follow  straightly  your 
undeviating  line;  you  have  been  courageous  and  potent — be 
to-day  wise  and  moderate.     In  this  will  consist  the  glorious 
termination  of  your  efforts.     Then,  again  returning  to  your 
domestic  hearths,  you  will  obtain  from  all,  if  not  blessings, 
at  least  the  silence  of  calumny. 


ROYER-COLLARD 


'lERRE  Paul  Royek-Collaki>,  French  philosopher  and  politician,  and 
in  1828  president  of  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  was  born  at  Som- 
puie,  Marne,  France,  June  21,  1763,  and  died  near  St.-Aignan, 
Sept.  4,  1845.  After  receiving  a  liberal  education,  he  was  admitted 
to  practice  at  the  Bar.  On  the  outbreak  of  the  French  Revolution,  he  took 
the  popular  side,  and  was  Secretary  of  the  Paris  Municipal  Council,  and  a 
member  in  1707  of  the  Council  of  Five  Hundred.  He  was,  however,  repelled 
by  the  sanguinary  course  pursued  by  Danton  and  Robespierre,  and  from  the 
era  of  the  Reign  of  Terror  until  the  fall  of  Napoleon,  in  1814,  he  lived  in 
retirement,  devoting  himself  to  his  duties  as  professor  of  philosophy  in  Paris. 
After  the  Restoration,  he  was  elected  to  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  and  remained 
a  member  of  it  for  about  fifteen  years,  becoming  eventually  its  president.  The 
annexed  speech  was  delivered  while  the  doctrinaire  was  a  member  of  that  body. 
After   the   Revolution    of   .Tuly,    1830,    he   withdrew   from  politics. 


"SACRILEGE"   IN   LAW 

CHAMBER    OF    DEPUTIES.    PARIS.    1825.  AGAINST   THE    DEATH    PENALTY  FOR 

SACRILEGE 

WHAT  is  sacrilege?  It  is,  according  to  this  law, 
the  profanation  of  sacred  vases  and  of  conse- 
crated wafers.  What,  then,  is  profanation?  It 
is  an  act  of  violence  committed  voluntarily,  through  hatred 
or  contempt  of  religion.  What  are  consecrated  wafers? 
We  Catholics  believe  that  consecrated  wafers  are  no  longer 
the  wafers  that  we  see,  but  Jesus  Christ  the  Holy  of  Holies; 
God  and  man  together,  invisible  and  present  in  the  most 
sacred  of  our  mysteries.  The  violence  is  thus  committed 
against  Jesus  Christ  himself.  The  irreverence  of  this  lan- 
guage is  shocking,  for  religion  also  has  itp.  modesty;  but  the 
irreverence  is  that  of  the  law.  The  sacrilege  then  consists, 
1  take  the  law  to  witness,  in  an  act  of  violence  committed 

(169) 


170  PIERRE    PAUL    ROYER-COM.AKI) 

upon  Jesus  Christ.  The  crime  punishable  by  the  law, 
under  the  name  of  sacrilege,  is  a  direct  outrage  on  the 
Divine  Majesty;  that  is  to  say,  according  to  ancient  ordi- 
nance, the  crime  of  l^se-majeste  divine:  and  as  this  crime 
exclusively  springs  from  the  Catholic  dogma  of  the  Real 
Presence,  it  results  that  if,  in  thought,  we  can  separate  from 
the  wafers  the  real  presence  and  divinity  of  Jesus  Christ, 
the  sacrilege  disappears  together  with  the  penalty  by  which 
it  is  punished.  It  is  the  dogma  which  makes  the  crime, 
and  it  is  also  the  dogma  which  gives  it  a  name. 

For  three  ages  past  the  Christian  religion  has  unfortu- 
nately been  torn  into  Catholic  and  Protestant,  and  the 
dogma  of  the  Real  Presence  is  only  true  on  this  side  of 
the  strait  which  separates  them;  but  beyond  that  it  is  false 
and  idolatrous.  Truth  is  limited  by  the  seas,  the  rivers, 
and  the  mountains;  it  is  determined,  as  Pascal  says,  by  a 
meridian.  There  are  as  many  varieties  of  truth  as  of  State 
religions.  Still  more,  if  in  every  State,  and  under  the  same 
meridian,  the  political  law  should  change,  truth,  a  docile 
companion,  changes  with  it,  and  all  these  truths,  contra- 
dictory among  themselves,  have  an  equal  claim  to  the  title 
of  immutable,  absolute  truth,  of  which,  according  to  your 
law,  we  must  be  satisfied  by  executions  that  will  at  all 
times  and  places  be  equally  just.  Contempt  of  God  and 
man  cannot  be  carried  further  than  this,  and  yet  such  are 
the  natural  and  necessary  consequences  of  legal  truth;  it  is 
impossible  to  avoid  them  when  once  the  principle  is  ad- 
mitted. Will  it  be  said  that  this  is  not  the  prmciple  of 
the  law?  Whenever  this  is  asserted  I  shall  still  repeat 
that  the  law  admits  the  legal  sacrilege  against  consecrated 
wafers,  if  the  Real  Presence  is  not  a  legal  truth. 

But  other  consequences  spring  from  the  same  principle. 


"sacrilege"  in  law  171 

We  do  Dot  play  with  religion  as  with  men ;  we  do  not  allot 
to  it  the  part  it  is  to  take;  we  cannot  say  to  it  with  author- 
ity: Thus  far  shalt  thou  go,  and  no  further.  The  sacrilege 
resulting  from  the  profanation  of  consecrated  wafers  is  pro- 
vided against  in  your  law;  but  why  that  one  alone,  when 
there  are  as  many  acts  of  sacrilege  as  there  are  modes  of 
outraging  the  Deity?  And  why  the  crime  of  sacrilege 
alone,  when  with  equal  audacity  heresy  and  blasphemy  are 
knocking  at  the  door  ?  Truth  does  not  sujffer  these  partial 
compromises.  By  what  right  does  your  profane  hand  thus 
divide  the  Divine  Majesty,  declaring  it  vulnerable  upon 
one  point  alone,  and  invulnerable  upon  every  other?  Sen- 
sitive to  acts  of  violence,  but  insensible  to  all  other  kinds 
of  outrage.  That  writer  is  not  wrong  who  declares  your 
law  to  be  paltry,  fraudulent,  and  even  atheistical!  The 
moment  that  a  single  dogma  of  the  Catholic  religi9n  enters 
into  the  law,  that  religion  should  be  held  true  in  its  fullest 
extent,  and  all  the  others  false;  it  should  form  a  part  of  the 
constitution  of  the  State,  and  thence  spread  itself  through 
all  its  civil  and  political  institutions. 

In  breaking  a  long  silence,  I  have  wished  to  mark  my 
lively  opposition  to  the  theocratic  principle  which  threatens 
at  once  society  and  religion,  a  principle  so  much  the  more 
serious  that  it  is  not,  as  in  the  days  of  barbarity  and  igno- 
rance, the  sincere  fury  of  a  too  ardent  zeal  which  relights 
this  torch.  There  is  no  longer  a  St.  Dominic,  neither  are 
we  Albigenses.  The  theocracy  of  our  times  is  less  religious 
than  political;  it  forms  a  part  of  that  system  of  reaction 
which  leads  us  on;  and  that  which  now  renews  it  is  its 
counter-revolutionary  aspect.  Without  doubt,  gentlemen, 
the  revolution  has  been  impious  even  to  fanaticism  and  to 
cruelty;  but  let  them  take  care,  it  was  that  crime  obove 


172  PIKRUE    PAUL    ROYER-COLLARD 

all  others,  which  caused  its  ruin;  and  we  may  predict  to 
the  counter-revolution  that  reprisals  of  cruelty,  even  if  onlv 
written,  will  bear  evidence  against  it,  and  blast  it  in  its 
turn.     I  vote  against  the  law. 


AGAINST  PRESS  CENSORSHIP 

DELIVERED  IN  THE  FRENCH  CHAMBER  OF  DEPUTIES  IN  1829 

IN  THE  ideas  of  some  men,  it  was  imprudent  on  the 
great  day  of  creation  to  allow  man,  a  free  and  intelli 
gent  being,  to  escape  into  the  midst  of  the  universe  1 
A  more  lofty  wisdom  is  now  about  to  repair  this  fault  of 
Providence  and  to  render  humanity,  sagely  mutilated,  the 
service  of  elevating  it  at  last  to  the  happy  innocence  of 
the  brute  creation!  The  Author  of  all  things  formerly 
thought  otherwise;  but  he  was  wrong!  Truth  is  a  good, 
say  these  men,  more  provident  than  nature,  but  error  is 
an  evil.  Perish,  then,  both  truth  and  error!  As  a  prison 
is  the  natural  remedy  for  liberty,  ignorance  will  be  the  nat- 
ural remedy  for  intelligence;  ignorance  is  the  true  science 
of  man  and  of  society!  Gentlemen,  a  law  which  thus  de- 
nies the  existence  of  mind  is  an  atheistical  law  and  should 
not  be  obeyed!  Alas!  we  have  passed  through  periods 
when  the  authority  of  the  law,  having  been  usurped  by 
tyranny,  evil  was  called  good,  and  virtue  crime.  During 
this  fearful  tost  we  did  not  seek  for  the  rule  of  our  actions 
in  the  law,  but  in  our  consciences:  we  obeyed  God  rather 
than  men.  Must  we,  under  the  legitimate  government,  be 
brought  back  to  these  deplorable  recollections?  We  shall 
Btill  be  the  -same  men  1     Your  law,  be  it  well  understood, 


AGAINST  PRESS  CENSORSHIP  173 

will    be    vain,    for   France    is    better   that   its    government! 
Counsellors  of  the  crown,  what  have  you  done  hitherto? 
Who  has  raised  you  above  your  fellow-citizens    that    you 
assume  a  right  to  impose  a  tyranny  upon  them  ?     Obscure 
and  ordinary  men  like  ourselves,  you  only  surpass  us  in 
temerity !     Such  senseless  audacity  can  only  be  met  with 
in  factions.     Your  law,  therefore,  denounces  a  faction  in 
the  government  with  as  much  certainty  as  if  this  faction 
had  denounced  itself.     I  shall  not  ask  it  what  it  is,  whence 
it  comes,  or  whither  it  is  going,  for  it  would  tell  me  false- 
hoods !     I  judge  this  faction  by  its  works !     It  now  proposes 
to  you  to  destroy  the  liberty  of  the  press ;  last  year  it  ex- 
humed from  the  Middle  Ages  the  right  of  primogeniture, 
and  the  year  before   it   introduced   sacrilege !     It   is   thus 
retrogading.     It  matters   not  to  me   whether  it  be  called 
counter-revolution   or  otherwise ;   it  is  going  backward   in 
religion  and  policy !     It  clings   to   fanaticism,   to  privilege, 
to  ignorance,  and  to  barbarism,  or  to  the  absurd  domination 
which  barbarism  favors !     The  enterprise,  however,  will  not 
be  so  easy  to  accomplish.     In  future  not  another  line  is  to 
be  printed  in  France  !     With  all  my  heart !     A  brazen  fron- 
tier shall  preserve  us  from  foreign  contagion !     Well  and 
good!     But  for  a  long  time  discussion  has  existed  in  the 
world  between  good   and  evil,   between  the  true   and   the 
false.     It  fills  innumerable  volumes,  which  have  been  read 
over  and  over,  day  and  night,  by  an  inquisitive  generation. 
Whole  libraries  of  books  have   passed  into   the  minds  of 
men.     It  is  from  thence  you  must  banish  them :  have  you 
a  law  ready  for  that  purpose  ?     So  long  as  we  shall  not 
forget  what  we  know,  we  shall  be  ill-disposed  to  brutish- 
ness   and   slavery.     But  the   action   of  mind   is   not  solely 
derived  from  books ;  springing  from  freedom  of  condition, 


174  PIERRE    PAUL    ROYER-COLI.AUn 

it  exists  in  labor,  in  riches,  and  in  leisure  ;  while  it  is  nour- 
ished by  the  assemblages  of  towns  and  the  facility  of  com- 
munication. To  enslave  men  it  is  necessary  to  disperse  and 
to  impoverish  them,  for  misery  is  the  safeguard  of  igno- 
rance. Believe  me,  reduce  the  population,  discard  the  men 
of  industry  from  the  soil,  burn  the  manufactories,  fill  up 
the  canals,  plow  up  the  highways.  If  you  do  not  effect 
all  this,  you  will  have  accomplished  nothing ;  if  the  plow 
does  not  pass  entirely  over  civilization,  that  which  remains 
will  be  sufficient  to  baffle  your  efforts. 

I  cannot  support  the  amendments  of  the  committee,  or 
indeed  any  amendments.  The  law  is  neither  worthy  nor 
susceptible  of  any.  There  is  no  arrangement  to  be  made 
with  the  principle  of  tyranny  by  which  it  was  dictated.  I 
reject  it  purely  and  simply  out  of  respect  for  humanity 
which  it  degrades,  and  for  justice   by  which  it  is  outraged. 


BARON  PLUKKET 


ULLIAM  CoNYNGiiAM  Plunket,  an  eminent  Irish  jurist,  orator,  and 
politician,  and  for  eleven  years  lord  chaneellor  of  Ireland,  was  the 
son  of  a  Presbyterian  minister  and  was  born  at  Enniskillen,  Ireland, 
July  1,  1764.  He  was  educated  at  Trinity  College,  Dublin,  and 
studied  law  at  Lincoln's  Inn,  London.  He  was  called  to  the  Irish  Bar  in  1787, 
and  in  1798  entered  the  Irish  Parliament,  where  he  opposed  the  union  with 
Great  Britain,  and  in  1803  was  the  prosecuting  attorney  in  the  trial  of  Robert 
Emmet  for  treason.  From  1807  to  1822  he  sat  in  the  English  House  of 
Commons,  where  his  voice  was  frequently  heard  in  behalf  of  Catholic  emanci- 
pation. Plunket  was  twice  attorney-general  of  Ireland,  and  in  1827  he  be- 
came chief-justice  o{  the  common  pleas  in  Ireland  and  was  raised  to  the 
peerage  as  Baron  Plijcket.  He  filled  the  post  of  lord  chancellor  of  Ireland 
1830-41,  and  died  in  his  ninetieth  year  in  County  Wicklow,  Ireland,  Jan. 
4,  1854.  Phmket's  fame  rests  mainly  on  his  long-continued  services  in  the 
interest  of  Catholic  Emancipation,  one  of  his  ablest  as  well  as  most  eloquent 
speeches  being  delivered  in  support  of  Burdett's  Catholic  Relief  Bill  in  1825. 
Plunket' s  oratory  aimed  to  convince  by  close,  logical  reasoning  rather  than  by 
appeals  to  the  passions,  while  elevated  thought,  full  and  refined  expression  were 
especial  characteristics  of  his  speeches.  His  intellect  was  that  of  a  jurist  and 
great  master   of  equity. 


ON    THE  COMPETENCY    OF    THE    IRISH    PARLIAMENT    TO 
PASS  THE  MEASURE  OF  UNION 

SIR,  I,  in  the  most  express  terms,  deny  the  competency  of 
Parliament  to  do  this  act.  I  warn  you,  do  not  dare 
to  lay  your  hand  on  the  constitution.  I  tell  you  that 
if,  circumstanced  as  you  are,  you  pass  this  act,  it  will  be  a 
nullity,  and  that  no  man  in  Ireland  will  be  bound  to  obey  it. 
I  make  the  assertion  deliberately — I  repeat  it,  and  I  call  on 
any  man  who  hears  me  to  take  down  my  words:  you  have  not 
been  elected  for  this  purpose — you  are  appointed  to  make 
laws  and  not  legislatures — you  are  appointed  to  act  under  the 
constitution,  not  to  alter  it — ^you  are  appointed  to  exercise 
the  functions  of  legislators,  and  not  to  transfer  them — and  if 

you  do  so  your  act  is  a  dissolution  of  the  government,  you 

(176) 


176  BARON    WILLIAM    CONYNGHAM    PLUNKET 

resolve  society  into  its  original  elements,  and  no  man  in  the 
land  is  bound  to  obey  you. 

Sir,  I  state  doctrines  which  are  not  merely  founded  in  the 
immutable  laws  of  justice  and  of  truth.  I  state  not  merely 
the  opinions  of  the  ablest  men  who  have  written  on  the  science 
of  government,  but  I  state  the  practice  of  our  constitution  as 
settled  at  the  era  of  the  revolution,  and  I  state  the  doctrine 
under  which  the  house  of  Hanover  derives  its  title  to  the 
throne.  Has  the  king  a  right  to  transfer  his  crown  ?  Is  he 
competent  to  annex  it  to  the  crown  of  Spain  or  any  other 
country?  Xo;  but  he  may  abdicate  it;  and  every  man  who 
knows  the  constitution  knows  the  consequence, — the  right  re- 
verts to  the  next  in  succession ;  if  they  all  abdicate,  it  reverts 
to  the  people.  The  man  who  questions  this  doctrine,  in  the 
same  breath  must  arraign  the  sovereign  on  the  throne  as  a 
usurper.  Are  you  competent  to  transfer  your  legislative 
rights  to  the  French  Council  of  Five  Hundred?  Are  you  com- 
petent to  transfer  them  to  the  British  Parliament?  I 
answer,  No.  When  you  transfer  you  abdicate,  and  the  great 
original  trust  results  to  the  people  from  whom  it  issued. 
Yourselves  you  may  extinguish,  but  Parliament  you  cannot 
extinguish — it  is  enthroned  in  the  hearts  of  the  people — it  is 
enshrined  in  the  sanctuary  of  the  constitution — it  is  immortal 
as  the  island  which  it  protects.  As  well  might  the  frantic 
suicide  hope  that  the  act  which  destroys  his  miserable  body 
should  extinguish  his  eternal  soul.  Again,  I  therefore  warn 
you,  do  not  dare  to  lay  your  hands  on  the  constitution ;  it  is 
above  your  power. 

Sir,  I  do  not  say  that  the  Parliament  and  the  people  by 
mutual  consent  and  co-operation,  may  not  change  the  form  of 
the  constitution.  Wbenever  such  a  case  arises  it  must  be 
decided  on  its  ovnx  merits — but  that  is  not  this  case.     If  gov- 


THK    IRISH    PARLIAMENT    AND    THE    UNION  177 

eminent  considers  this  a  season  peculiarly  fitted  for  experi- 
ments on  the  constitution,  they  may  call  on  the  people. 

I  ask  you,  are  you  ready  to  do  so  ?  Are  you  ready  to  abide 
the  event  of  such  an  appeal  ?  What  is  it  you  must,  in  that 
event,  submit  to  the  people  ?  Not  this  particular  project,  for 
if  you  dissolve  the  present  form  of  government  they  become 
free  to  choose  any  other — you  fling  them  to  the  fury  of  the 
tempest — ^\'ou  must  call  on  them  to  unhouse  themselves  of  the 
established  constitution,  and  to  fashion  to  themselves  another. 
I  ask  again,  is  this  the  time  for  an  experiment  of  that  nature  ? 

Thank  God,  the  people  have  manifested  no  such  wish — so 
far  as  they  have  spoken,  their  voice  is  decidedly  against  this 
daring  innovation.  You  know  that  no  voice  has  been  uttered 
in  its  favor,  and  you  cannot  be  infatuated  enough  to  take  con- 
fidence from  the  silence  which  prevails  in  some  parts  of  the 
kingdom;  if  you  know  how  to  appreciate  that  silence  it  is 
more  formidable  than  the  most  clamorous  opposition — you 
may  be  rived  and  shivered  by  the  lightning  before  you  hear 
the  peal  of  the  thunder !  But,  sir,  we  are  told  that  we  should 
discuss  this  question  with  calmness  and  composure.  I  am 
called  on  to  surrender  my  birthright  and  my  honor,  and  I  am 
told  I  should  be  calm  and  should  be  composed.  National 
pride  !     Independence  of  our  country ! 

These,  we  are  told  by  the  minister,  are  only  vulgar  topics 
fitted  but  for  the  meridian  of  the  mob,  but  unworthy  to  be 
mentioned  to  such  an  enlightened  assembly  as  this;  they  are 
trinkets  and  gewgaws  fit  to  catch  the  fancy  of  childish  and 
unthinking  people  like  you,  sir,  or  like  your  predecessor  in 
that  chair,  but  utterly  unworthy  the  consideration  of  this 
House  or  of  the  matured  understanding  of  the  noble  lord  who 
condescends  to  instruct  it ! 

Gracious  God!     We  see  a  Perry  reascending  from  the 

Vol.  4—12 


178  BARON    WILLIAM    CONYNGHAM    I'LUNKET 

tomb  and  raising  his  awful  voice  to  warn  us  against  the  sur- 
render of  our  freedom,  and  we  see  that  the  proud  and  virtuous 
feelings  which  warm  the  breast  of  that  aged  and  venerable 
man  are  only  calculated  to  excite  the  contempt  of  this  young 
philosopher  who  has  been  transplanted  from  the  nursery  to 
the  cabinet  to  outrage  the  feelings  and  understanding  of  the 
countrv. 


DENUNCIATION   OF  THE   MEN   AND  THE   MEANS   BY 
WHICH   THE   UNION   WAS  PERPETRATED 

LET  me  again  ask  you,  how  was  the  rebellion  of  1798 
put  down  ?  By  the  zeal  and  loyalty  of  the  gentlemen 
of  Ireland  rallying  round — what  ?  a  reed  shaken  by 
the  ^^and,  a  wretched  apology  for  a  minister  who  neither 
knew  how  to  give  or  where  to  seek  protection !  No — but 
round  the  laws  and  constitution  and  independence  of  the 
country.  What  were  the  affections  and  motives  that  called  us 
into  action  ?  To  protect  our  families,  our  properties,  and  our 
liberties.  What  were  the  antipathies  by  which  we  were  ex- 
cited ?  Our  abhorrence  of  French  principles  and  French  am- 
bition. What  was  it  to  us  that  France  was  a  republic?  I 
rather  rejoiced  when  I  saw  the  ancient  despotism  of  France 
put  down.  What  was  it  to  us  that  she  dethroned  her 
monarch  ? 

I  admired  the  virtues  and  wept  for  the  sufferings  of  the 
man,  but  as  a  nation  it  affected  us  not.  The  reason  I  took 
up  arms,  and  am  ready  still  to  bear  them  against  France,  is 
because  she  intruded  herself  upon  our  domestic  concerns — 
because,  with  the  rights  of  man  and  the  love  of  freedom  on 
her  tongue,  I  see  that  she  has  the  lust  of  dominion  in  her 
heart — because    wherever  she  has  placed  her  foot  she  has 


DENUNCIATION    OF    UNION    WITH    ENGLAND  179 

erected  her  throne,  and  that  to  be  her  friend  or  her  ally  is  to 
be  her  tributary  or  her  slave. 

Let  me  ask,  is  the  present  conduct  of  the  British  minister 
calculated  to  augment  or  to  transfer  that  antipathy  ?  l^o, 
sir,  I  will  be  bold  to  say  that  licentious  and  impious  France, 
in  all  the  unrestrained  excesses  which  anarchy  and  atheism 
have  given  birth  to,  has  not  committed  a  more  insidious  act 
against  her  enemy  than  is  now  attempted  by  her  professed 
champion  of  civilized  Europe  against  a  friend  and  an  ally  in 
the  hour  of  her  calamity  and  distress — at  a  moment  when  our 
country  is  filled  with  British  troops — when  the  loyal  men  of 
Ireland  are  fatigued  with  their  exertions  to  put  down  re- 
bellion, efforts  in  which  they  had  succeeded  before  these 
troops  arrived — whilst  our  Habeas.  Corpus  Act  is  suspended — 
whilst  trials  by  court  martial  are  carrying  on  in  many  parts 
of  the  kingdom — whilst  the  people  are  taught  to  think  that 
they  have  no  right  to  meet  or  to  deliberate,  and  whilst  the 
great  body  of  them  are  so  palsied  by  their  fears  and  worn 
down  by  their  exertion  that  even  the  vital  question  is  scarcely 
able  to  rouse  them  from  their  lethargy — at  the  moment  when 
we  are  distracted  by  domestic  dissensions,  dissensions  art- 
fully kept  alive  as  the  pretext  for  our  present  subjugation 
and  the  instrument  of  our  future  thraldom ! 

Sir,  I  thank  the  administration  for  this  meas^ure.  They 
are,  without  intending  it,  putting  an  end  to  our  dissensions ; 
through  this  black  cloud  which  they  have  collected  over  us,  I 
see  the  light  breaking  in  upon  this  unfortunate  country. 
They  have  composed  our  dissensions — not  by  fomenting  the 
embers  of  a  lingering  and  subdued  rebellion — not  by  hallooing 
the  Protestant  against  the  Catholic,  and  the  Catholic  against 
the  Protestant — not  by  committing  the  North  against  the 
South — not   by    inconsistent    appeals    to    local    or   to    party 


180  KARON    WILLIAM    CONYKGHAM    PLUNKET 

prejudices,  no,  but  by  the  avowal  of  this  atrocious  con- 
spiracy against  the  liberties  of  Ireland  they  have  subdued 
every  petty  and  subordinate  distinction.  They  have  united 
every  rank  and  description  of  men  by  the  pressure  of  this 
grand  and  momentous  subject,  and  I  tell  them  that  the}'  will 
see  every  honest  and  independent  man  in  Ireland  lly  round 
her  constitution  and  merge  every  other  consideration  in  his 
opposition  to  this  ungenerous  and  odious  measure. 

For  my  outi  part  I  will  resist  it  to  the  last  gasp  of  my 
existence  and  with  the  last  drop  of  my  blood,  and  when  I  feel 
the  hour  of  my  dissolution  approaching  I  ^\dll,  like  the  father 
of  Hannibal,  take  my  children  to  the  altar  and  swear  them  to 
eternal  hostility  against  the  invaders  of  their  country's  free- 
dom. 

Sir,  I  shall  not  detain  you  by  pursuing  this  question 
through  the  topics  which  it  so  abundantly  offers.  I  should 
be  proud  to  think  my  name  might  be  handed  down  to  pos- 
terity in  the  same  roll  with  these  disinterested  patriots  who 
have  successfully  resisted  the  enemies  of  their  country — suc- 
cessfully I  trust  it  will  be — in  all  events  I  have  my  "  exceed- 
ing great  reward  " — I  shall  bear  in  my  heart  the  consciousness 
of  having  done  my  duty,  and  in  the  hour  of  death  I  shall  not 
be  haunted  by  the  reflection  of  having  basely  sold  or  meanly 
abandoned  the  liberties  of  my  native  land.  Can  every  man 
who  gives  his  vote  on  the  other  side,  this  night  lay  his  hand 
upon  his  heart  and  make  the  same  declaration  'i  I  hope  so — 
it  will  be  well  for  his  own  peace — the  indignation  and  abhor- 
rence of  his  countrymen  will  not  accompany  him  through  life, 
and  the  curses  of  his  children  will  not  follow  him  to  his  grave. 


WILLIAM    PINIvNEY 


William  Pinkney,  an  American  lawyer,  diplomatist,  and  statesman,  was 
born  at  Annapolis,  Md.,  March  17,  17C4,  and  died  at  Washington,  D.  C, 
Feb.  25,  1822.  His  father  was  English  h}-  birth  and  remained  loyal  to  his 
country  in  the  American  Revolution.  The  son,  on  the  other  hand,  early 
sided  with  the  opposite  party.  At  the  close  of  the  American  war  he  began  the  study 
of  law  at  Baltimore,  Md.,  in  1783,  and  three  years  later  was  admitted  to  the  Bar.  He 
was  appointed  a  delegate  to  the  Maryland  convention  that  ratified  the  Federal  Con- 
stitution, and  having  established  himself  in  his  profession  in  Harford  Co.,  Md., 
represented  that  county  in  the  State  legislature,  1788-95,  and  for  three  years  further 
was  a  member  of  the  Maryland  executive  council.  His  acquaintance  with  admiraltj' 
law  proved  of  value  during  the  twelve  years,  1796-1808,  when  he  was  United  States 
commissioner  in  England.  After  a  period  of  service  as  attorney-general  of  Maryland 
he  was  once  more  sent  to  England  to  act  as  minister  extraordinary  with  Monroe,  and 
remained  there  as  minister  resident,  1807-11.  In  the  last-named  year  he  was  recalled, 
at  his  own  request,  by  President  Madison,  and  entered  the  senate  of  his  native  State, 
becoming  at  the  close  of  1811  Attorney-General  of  the  United  States.  He  favored  the 
second  war  with  England,  and  while  serving  in  the  American  army  as  a  volunteer  was 
wounded  at  the  battle  of  Bladensburg.  In  1816,  Pinkney  was  appointed  by  President 
Monroe  United  States  minister  to  Russia  and  special  envoy  to  Naples,  remaining  abroad 
for  two  years.  On  his  return  to  America,  and  while  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States 
from  1820-22  he  took  a  prominent  part  in  the  discussion  on  the  admission  of  Missouri 
into  the  Union.  Pinkney  was  a  lawyer  of  much  ability,  a  skillful  diplomatist,  and  a 
useful  member  of  the  United  States  Senate. 

SPEECH   FOR  THE   RELIEF   OF   THE   OPPRESSED   SLAVES 

[This  speech  was  delivered  in  the  Assembly  of  Maryland  at  their  session  in  1788, 
when  the  report  of  a  committee  of  the  House,  favorable  to  a  petition  for  the  relief  of 
the  oppressed  slaves,  was  under  consideration.] 


M 


R.  SPEAKER, — Before  I  proceed  to  deliver  my  sen- 
timents on  the  subject-matter  of  the  report  under 
consideration,  I  must  entreat  the  members  of  this 
House  to  hear  me  with  patience,  and  not  to  condemn  what  i 
may  happen  to  advance  in  support  of  the  opinion  I  have 
formed,  until  they  shall  have  heard  me  out.  I  am  conscious, 
sir,  that  upon  this  occasion  I  have  long-established  principles 

to  combat    and  deep-rooted  prejudices  to  defeat;  that  I  have 

(181) 


182  WILLIAM    PINKNEY 

fears  and  apprehensions  to  silence,  which  the  acts  of  former 
legislatures  have  sanctioned,  and  that  (what  is  equivalent  to  a 
host  of  difficulties)   the  popular  impressions  are  against  me. 

But  if  I  am  honored  with  the  same  indulgent  attention 
which  the  House  has  been  pleased  to  afford  me  on  past  sub- 
jects of  deliberation  I  do  not  despair  of  surmounting  all  these 
obstacles  in  the  common  cause  of  justice,  humanity,  and  pol- 
icy. The  report  appears  to  me  to  have  two  objects  in  view: 
to  annihilate  the  existing  restraints  on  the  voluntary  emanci- 
pation of  slaves,  and  to  relieve  a  particular  offspring  from  the 
pimislunent,  heretofore  inflicted  on  them,  for  the  mere  trans- 
gression of  their  parents.  To  the  whole  report,  separately 
and  collectively,  my  hearty  assent,  my  cordial  assistance,  shall 
be  given. 

It  was  the  policy  of  this  country,  sir,  from  an  early  period 
of  colonization,  down  to  the  Revolution,  to  encourage  an 
importation  of  slaves  for  purposes  which  (if  conjecture  may 
be  indulged)  had  been  far  better  answered  without  their 
assistance.  That  this  inhuman  policy  was  a  disgrace  to  the 
colony,  a  dishonor  to  the  legislature,  and  a  scandal  to 
human  nature,  we  need  not,  at  this  enlightened  period,  labor 
to  prove. 

The  generous  mind,  that  has  adequate  ideas  of  the  inherent 
rights  of  mankind  and  knows  the  value  of  them,  must  feel 
its  indignation  rise  against  the  shameful  traffic  that  introduces 
slavery  into  a  country,  which  seems  to  have  been  designed  by 
P^o^ddence  as  an  asylum  for  those  whom  the  arm  of  power 
had  persecuted  and  not  as  a  nursery  for  wretches  stripped  of 
every  privilege  which  Heaven  intended  for  its  rational  crea- 
tures, and  reduced  to  a  level  with  —  nay,  become  themselves 
—  the  mere  goods  and  chattels  of  their  masters. 

Sir,  by  the  eternal  principles  of  natural  justice,  no  master 


FOR    THE    RKHKF    OF    OPPRESSED    SLAVES  183 

in  the  State  has  a  right  to  hold  his  slave  in  bondage  for  a 
single  hour;  but  the  law  of  the  land,  which  (however  oppres- 
sive and  unjust,  however  inconsistent  with  the  great  ground- 
work of  the  late  Revolution  and  our  present  frame  of  govern- 
ment) we  cannot  in  prudence  or  from  a  regard  to  individual 
rights  abolish,  has  authorized  a  slavery  as  bad  or  perhaps 
woi*se  than  the  most  absolute,  unconditional  servitude  that 
ever  England  knew  in  the  early  ages  of  its  empire,  under 
the  tyrannical  policy  of  the  Danes,  the  feudal  tenures  of  the 
Saxons,  or  the  pure  villanage  of  the  I^ormans. 

But,  Mr.  Speaker,  because  a  respect  for  the  peace  and  safety 
of  the  community,  and  the  already  injured  rights  of  indi- 
viduals, forbids  a  compulsory  liberation  of  these  unfortunate 
creatures,  shall  we  unnecessarily  refine  upon  this  gloomy  sys- 
tem of  bondage  and  prevent  the  owner  of  a  slave  from  manu- 
mitting him  at  the  only  probable  period  when  the  warm 
feelings  of  benevolence  and  the  gentle  workings  of  commis- 
eration dispose  him  to  the  generous  deed? 

Sir,  the  natural  character  of  Maryland  is  sufficiently  sullied 
and  dishonored  by  barely  tolerating  slavery;  but  when  it  is 
found  that  your  laws  give  every  possible  encouragement  to 
its  continuance  to  the  latest  generations,  and  are  ingenious  to 
prevent  even  its  slow  and  gradual  decline,  how  is  the  dye  of 
the  imputation  deepened?  It  may  even  be  thought  that  our 
late  glorious  struggle  for  liberty  did  not  originate  in  prin- 
ciple, but  took  its  rise  from  popular  caprice,  the  rage  of  faction, 
or  the  intemperance  of  party. 

Let  it  be  remembered,  Mr.  Speaker,  that  even  in  the  days 
of  feudal  barbarity,  when  the  minds  of  men  were  unexpanded 
by  that  liberality  of  sentiment  which  springs  from  civilization 
and  refinement,  such  was  the  antipathy  in  England  against 
private  bondage   that,  so  far  from  being  studious  to  stop  the 


184  WILLIAM    PINKNET 

progress  of  emancipation,  the  courts  of  law  (aided  by  legis- 
lative connivance)  were  inventive  to  liberate  by  construction. 
If,  for  example,  a  man  brought  an  action  against  his  villain, 
it  was  presumed  that  he  designed  to  manumit  him;  and 
although  perhaps  this  presumption  was,  in  ninety-nine 
instances  out  of  a  hundred,  contrary  to  the  fact,  yet  upon 
thisjgTound  alone  were  bondmen  adjudged  to  be  free. 

Sir,  I  sincerely  wish  it  were  in  my  power  to  impart  my 
feelings  upon  this  subject  to  those  who  hear  me;  they  would 
then  acknowledge  that  while  the  owner  was  protected  in  the 
property  of  his  slave  he  might,  at  the  same  time,  be  allowed 
to  relinquish  that  property  to  the  unhappy  subject  whenever 
he  should  be  so  inclined.  Thev  would  then  feel  that  denv- 
ing  this  privilege  was  repugnant  to  every  principle  of  human- 
ity—  an  everlasting  stigma  on  our  government  —  an  act  of 
unequalled  barbarity,  without  a  color  of  policy  or  a  pretext 
of  necessity   to  justify  it. 

Sir,  let  gentlemen  put  it  home  to  themselves,  that  after 
Providence  has  crowned  our  exertions'  in  the  cause  of  general 
freedom  -with  success,  and  led  us  on  to  independence  through 
a  myriad  of  dangere  and  in  defiance  of  obstacles  crowding 
thick  upon  each  other,  we  should  not  so  soon  forget  the  prin- 
ciples upon  which  we  fled  to  anns  and  lose  all  sense  of  that 
interposition  of  Heaven  by  which  alone  we  could  have  been 
saved  from  the  gTasp  of  arbitrary  power.  We  may  talk  of  lib- 
erty in  our  public  councils  and  fancy  that  we  feel  rever- 
ence for  her  dictates.  We  may  declaim,  mth  all  the  vehe- 
mence of  animated  rhetoric,  against  oppression,  and  flatter 
ourselves  that  we  detest  the  ugly  monster,  but  so  long  as  we 
continue  to  cherish  the  poisonous  weed  of  partial  slavery 
among  us  the  world  will  doubt  our  sincerity.  In  the  name 
of  Heaven,  witli  what  face  can  we  call  ourselves  the  friends 


FOR  THE  RELIEF  OF  OPPRESSED  SLAVES 


185 


of  equal  freedom  and  the  inherent  rights  of  our  species  when 
we  wantonly  pass  laws  inimical  to  each;  when  we  reject  every 
opportunity  of  destroying,  by  silent,  imperceptible  degrees,  the 
horrid  fabric  of  indi^ddual  bondage,  reared  by  the  mercenary 
hands  of  those  from  whom  the  sacred  flame  of  liberty  received 
no  devotion? 

Sir,  it  is  pitiable  to  reflect  to  what  wild  inconsistencies,  to 
what  opposite  extremes  we  are  hurried  by  the  frailty  of  our 
nature.  Long  have  I  been  convinced  that  no  generous  sen- 
timent of  which  the  human  heart  is  capable,  no  elevated  pas- 
sion of  the  soul  that  dignifies  mankind,  can  obtain  a  uniform 
and  perfect  dominion:  to-day  we  may  be  aroused  as  one  man, 
by  a  wonderful  and  unaccountable  sympathy,  against  the  law- 
less invader  of  the  rights  of  his  fellow  creatures:  to-morrow 
we  may  be  guilty  of  the  same  oppression  which  we  reprobated 
and  resisted  in  another. 

Is  it,  Mr.  Speaker,  because  the  complexion  of  these  devoted 
victims  is  not  quite  so  delicate  as  ours;  is  it  because  their  untu- 
tored minds  (humbled  and  debased  by  the  hereditary  yoke) 
appear  less  active  and  capricious  than  our  own;  or  is  it  because 
we  have  been  so  habituated  to  their  situation  as  to  become 
callous  to  the  horrors  of  it  that  we  are  determined,  whether 
politic  or  not,  to  keep  them,  till  time  shall  be  no  more,  on  a 
level  with  the  brutes.  For  "  nothing,"  says  Montesquieu, 
'*  so  much  assimilates  a  man  to  a  brute  as  living  among  free- 
men, himself  a  slave."  Call  not  Maryland  a  land  of  lib- 
erty; do  not  pretend  that  she  has  chosen  this  country  as  an 
asylum,  that  here  she  has  erected  her  temple  and  conse- 
crated her  shrine,  when  here,  also,  her  unhallowed  enemy 
holds  his  hellish  pandemonium  and  our  rulers  offer  sacrifice 
at  his  polluted  altar.  The  lily  and  the  bramble  may  grow  in 
social  proximity,  but  liberty  and  slavery  delight  in  separation. 


l^(\  WILLIAM    riNKNEY 

Sir,  let  us  figure  to  ourselves,  for  a  moment,  one  of  these 
unhappy  victims,  more  informed  than  the  rest,  pleading,  at  the 
bar  of  this  House,  the  cause  of  himself  and  his  fellow  sufferers; 
what  would  be  the  language  of  this  orator  of  nature?  Thus 
mj  imagination  tells  me  he  would  address  us: 

"  We  belong,  by  the  policy  of  the  countr}',  to  our  masters, 
and  submit  to  our  rigorous  destiny;  we  do  not  ask  you  to 
divest  them  of  their  property  because  we  are  conscious  you 
have  not  the  power ;  we  do  not  entreat  you  to  compel  an  eman- 
cipation of  us  or  our  posterity,  because  justice  to  your  fel- 
low citizens  forbids  it;  we  only  supplicate  you  not  to  arrest 
the  gentle  arm  of  humanity  when  it  may  be  stretched  forth 
in  our  behalf;  nor  to  wage  hostilities  against  that  moral  or 
religious  conviction  which  may  at  any  time  incline  our  mas- 
ters to  give  freedom  to  us  or  our  unoffending  offspring;  not 
to  interpose  legislative  obstacles  to  the  course  of  voluntary 
manumission. 

"  Thus  shall  you  neither  violate  the  rights  of  your  people 
nor  endanger  the  quiet  of  the  community  while  you  vindicate 
your  public  councils  from  the  imputation  of  cruelty  and  the 
stigma  of  causeless,  unprovoked  oppression.  We  have  never," 
would  he  argue,  "rebelled  against  our  masters;  we  have  never 
thrown  your  government  into  a  ferment  by  struggles  to  regain 
the  independence  of  our  fathers.  We  have  yielded  our  necks 
submissive  to  the  yoke,  and,  without  a  murmur,  acquiesced 
in  the  privation  of  our  native  rights.  We  conjure  you,  then, 
in  the  name  of  the  common  parent  of  mankind,  reward  us  not, 
for  this  long  and  patient  acquiescence,  by  shutting  up  the 
main  avenues  to  our  liberation,  by  withholding  from  us  the 
poor  privilege  of  benefiting  by  the  kind  indulgence,  the  gen- 
(^rous  intentions  of  our  superiors." 

What  could  we  answpr  to  arguments  like   tlie^e?     Silent 


FOK    THE    RELIEF    OF    OPPRESSED    SLAVES  187 

and  peremptory,  we  might  reject  the  application;  but  no  words 
could  justify  the  deed. 

In  vain  should  we  resort  to  apologies  grounded  on  the  falla- 
cious suggestions  of  a  cautious  and  timid  policy.  I  would  as 
soon  believe  the  incoherent  tale  of  a  schoolboy  who  should 
tell  me  he  had  been  frightened  by  a  ghost  as  that  the  grant 
of  this  permission  ought  in  any  degree  to  alarm  us.  Are  we 
apprehensive  that  these  men  will  become  more  dangerous  by 
becoming  free?  Are  we  alarmed  lest,  by  being  admitted  to 
the  enjoyment  of  civil  rights,  they  will  be  inspired  with  a 
deadly  enmity  against  the  rights  of  others?  Strange,  unac- 
countable paradox!  How  much  more  rational  would  it  be  to 
argue  that  the  natural  enemy  of  the  privileges  of  freemen 
is  he  who  is  robbed  of  them  himself !  In  him  the  foul  demon 
of  jealousy  converts  the  sense  of  his  own  debasement  into  a 
rancorous  hatred  for  the  more  auspicious  fate  of  others ;  while 
from  him  whom  you  have  raised  from  the  degrading  situation 
of  a  slave,  whom  you  have  restored  to  that  rank  in  the  order 
of  the  universe  which  the  malignity  of  his  fortune  prevented 
him  from  attaining  before,  from  such  a  man  (unless  his  soul 
be  ten  thousand  times  blacker  than  his  complexion)  you  may 
reasonably  hope  for  all  the  happy  effects  of  the  warmest  grat- 
itude and  love. 

Sir,  let  us  not  limit  our  views  to  the  short  period  of  a  life 
in  being;  let  us  extend  them  along  the  continuous  line  of  end- 
less generations  yet  to  come.  How  will  the  millions  that  now 
teem  in  the  womb  of  futurity,  and  whom  your  present  laws 
would  doom  to  the  curse  of  perpetual  bondage,  feel  the  inspi- 
ration of  gratitude  to  those  whose  sacred  love  of  liberty  shall 
have  opened  the  door  to  their  admission  within  the  pale  of 
freedom!  Dishonorable  to  the  species  is  the  idea  that  they 
would  ever  prove  injurious  to  our  interests.  Released  from 
the  shackles  of  slavery  by  the  justice  of  government   and  the 


188  WILLIAM    PINKNEY 

bounty  of  individuals,  the  want  of  Hdelity  and  attachment 
would  be  next  to  impossible. 

Sir,  when  we  talk  of  policy,  it  would  be  well  for  us  to 
reflect  whether  pride  is  not  at  the  bottom  of  it;  whether  we 
do  not  feel  our  vanity  and  self-consequence  wounded  at  the 
idea  of  a  dusky  African  participating  equally  with  ourselves 
in  the  rights  of  human  nature,  and  rising  to  a  level  with  us 
from  the  lowest  point  of  degradation.  Prejudices  of  this 
kind,  sir,  are  often  so  powerful  as  to  persuade  us  that  what- 
ever countervails  them  is  the  extremity  of  folly,  and  that 
the  peculiar  path  of  wisdom  is  that  which  leads  to  their  grati- 
fication. 

But  it  is  for  us  to  be  superior  to  the  influence  of  such 
ungenerous  motives;  it  is  for  us  to  reflect  that  whatever  the 
complexion,  however  ignoble  the  ancestry  or  uncultivated  the 
mind,  one  universal  Father  gave  being  to  them  and  us;  and, 
with  that  being,  conferred  the  inalienable  rights  of  the  species. 
But  I  have  heard  it  argued  that  if  you  permit  a  master  to 
manumit  his  slaves  by  his  last  will  and  testament,  as  soon  as 
they  discover  he  has  done  so  they  will  destroy  him,  to  pre- 
vent a  revocation.  Never  was  a  weaker  defence  attempted, 
to  justify  the  severity  of  persecution;  never  did  a  bigoted 
inquisition  condemn  a  heretic  to  torture  and  to  death  upon 
grounds  less  adequate  to  justify  the  horrid  sentence.  Sir,  is 
it  not  obvious  that  the  argument  applies  equally  against  all 
devices  whatsoever,  for  any  person's  benefit?  For,  if  an 
advantageous  bequest  is  made,  even  to  a  white  man,  has  he 
not  the  same  temptation  to  cut  short  the  life  of  his  benefac- 
tor, to  secure  and  accelerate  the  enjoyment  of  the  benefit? 

As  the  universality  of  this  argument  renders  it  completely 
nugatory,  so  is  its  cruelty  palpable  by  its  being  more  applica- 
ble to  other  instances,  to  which  it  has  never  been  applied  at 
all,  than  to  the  case  under  consideration. 


HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 


JARRISON  Gray  Otis,  American  senator,  jurist,  and  orator,  nephew  of 
James  Otis,  was  born  at  Boston,  Mass.,  Oct.  8,  1765,  and  died  there, 
Oct.  28,  18-18.  He  graduated  at  Harvard  with  high  honors  in  1783, 
studied  law,  and  was  admitted  to  the  Bar  in  1786.  He  soon  distin- 
guished himself  in  his  profession,  his  polished  manners  and  his  eloquent  oratory  con- 
tributing largely  to  his  success.  From  1797  to  1801  he  was  a  prominent  Federalist 
member  of  Congress.  He  filled  several  official  posts  of  importance  in  his  native  State, 
and,  returning  to  Congress  in  1817,  sat  for  nearly  five  years  (1817-22)  in  the  Senate. 
In  1814,  he  took  a  conspicuous  part  in  the  Hartford  Convention,  a  circumstance  which 
led  to  his  defeat  when  he  became  a  candidate  for  the  office  of  first  mayor  of  Boston, 
though  he  was  chosen  mayor  in  1829.  His  most  famous  speeches  were  his  eulogy  upon 
Hamilton,  delivered  in  1804,  and  his  argument  in  the  United  States  Senate  on  the  ad- 
mission of  Missouri  to  the  Union  in  1820.  His  published  writings  comprise  "Letters 
in  Defence  of  the  Hartford  Convention,"  1824,  and  "Orations  and  Addresses." 


EULOGY   ON  ALEXANDER   HAMILTON 

PRONOUNCED  AT  THE  REQUEST  OF  THE  CITIZENS  OF  BOSTON, 

JULY  26,  1804 

WE  ARE  convened,  afflicted  fellow  citizens,  to  perform 
the  only  duties  which  our  republics  acknowledge 
or  fulfil  to  their  illustrious  dead:  to  present  to 
departed  excellence  an  oblation  of  gratitude  and  respect,  to 
inscribe  its  virtues  on  the  urn  which  contains  its  ashes,  and  to 
consecrate  its  example  by  the  tears  and  sympathy  of  an  affec- 
tionate people. 

Must  we,  then,  realize  that  Hamilton  is  no  more!  Must 
the  sod,  not  yet  cemented  on  the  tomb  of  Washington,  still 
moist  with  our  tears,  be  so  soon  disturbed  to  admit  the  beloved 
companion  of  Washington,  the  partner  of  his  dangers,  the 
object  of  his  copfideijce,  the  disciple  who  leaned  upon  his 

bosom! 


190  HARRISON    GRAY    OTIS 

Insatiable  Death!  Will  not  the  heroes  and  statesmen 
whom  mad  ambition  has  sent  from  the  crimsoned  fields  of 
Europe  suffice  to  people  thy  dreary  dominions!  Thy  dismal 
avenues  have  been  thronged  with  princely  martyrs  and  illus- 
trious victims.  Crowns  and  sceptres,  the  spoils  of  royalty,  are 
among  thy  recent  trophies,  and  the  blood  of  innocence  and 
valor  has  flowed  in  torrents  at  thy  inexorable  command.  Such 
have  been  thy  ravages  in  the  Old  World.  And  in  our  infant 
country  how^  small  was  the  remnant  of  our  revolutionary  heroes 
which  had  been  spared  from  thy  fatal  grasp!  Could  not  our 
Warren,  our  Montgomery,  our  Mercer,  our  Greene,  our  Wash- 
ington appease  thy  vengeance  for  a  few  short  years!  Shall 
none  of  our  early  patriots  be  permitted  to  behold  the  perfec- 
tion of  their  own  work  in  the  stability  of  our  government  and 
the  maturity  of  our  institutions!  Or  hast  thou  predetei-mined, 
dread  King  of  Terrors!  to  blast  the  world's  best  hope,  and,  by 
depriving  us  of  all  the  conductors  of  our  glorious  Revolution, 
compel  us  to  bury  our  liberties  in  their  tombs ! 

O  Hamilton!  great  would  be  the  relief  of  my  mind  were  T 
permitted  to  exchange  the  arduous  duty  of  attempting  to  por- 
tray the  varied  excellence  of  thy  character  for  the  privilege 
of  venting  the  deep  and  unavailing  soitow  which  swells  my 
bosom  at  the  remembrance  of  the  gentleness  of  thy  nature,  of 
thy  splendid  talents  and  placid  virtues!  But,  my  respected 
friends,  an  indulgence  of  these  feelings  would  be  inconsistent 
with  that  deliberate  recital  of  the  services  and  qualities  of  this 
great  man  which  is  required  by  impartial  justice  and  your 
expectations. 

In  governments  which  recognize  the  distinctions  of  splen- 
did birth  and  titles,  the  details  of  illustrious  lineage  and  con- 
nections become  interesting  to  those  who  are  accustomed  to 
value  those  advantages.      But  in   the   man  whose   loss  we 


EULOGY    ON    ALEXANDER    HAMILTON  igj 

deplore,  the  interval  between  manhood  and  death  was  so  uni- 
formly filled  by  a  display  of  the  energies  of  his  mighty  mind 
that  the  world  has  scarcely  paused  to  inquire  into  the  story  of 
his  infant  or  puerile  years.  He  was  a  planet  the  dawn  of  which 
was  not  perceived;  which  rose  with  full  splendor,  and  emitted 
a  constant  stream  of  glorious  light  until  the  hour  of  its  sudden 
and  portentous  eclipse. 

At  the  age  of  eighteen,  while  cultivating  his  mind  at  Colum- 
bia College,  he  was  roused  from  the  leisure  and  delights  of 
scientific  groves  by  the  din  of  war.  He  entered  the  American 
army  as  an  ofiicer  of  artillery,  and  at  that  early  period 
familiarized  himself  to  wield  both  his  sword  and  his  pen  in 
the  service  of  his  country.  He  developed  at  once  the  qual- 
ities which  command  precedency,  and  the  modesty  which  con- 
ceals its  pretensions.  Frank,  affable,  intelligent,  and  brave, 
young  Hamilton  became  the  favorite  of  his  fellow  soldiers. 
His  intuitive  perception  and  correct  judgment  rendered  him 
a  rapid  proficient  in  military  science,  and  his  merit  silenced 
the  envy  which  it  excited. 

A  most  honorable  distinction  now  awaited,  him.  He 
attracted  the  attention  of  the  commander-in-chief,  who 
appointed  him  an  aid  and  honored  him  with  his  confidence 
and  friendship.  This  domestic  relation  afforded  to  both,  fre- 
quent means  of  comparing  their  opinions  upon  the  policy  and 
destinies  of  our  country,  upon  the  sources  of  its  future  pros- 
perity and  grandeur,  upon  the  imperfection  of  its  existing 
establishments;  and  to  digest  those  principles  which,  in  hap- 
pier times  might  be  interwoven  into  a  more  perfect  model 
of  government.  Hence,  probably,  originated  that  filial  vene- 
ration for  Washington  and  adherence  to  his  maxims  which 
were  ever  conspicuous  in  the  deportment  of  Hamilton;  and 
hence  the   exalted   esteem   and   predilection   uniformly   did- 


192  HARRISON    GRAY    OTIS 

played  by  the  magnanimous  patron  to  the  faithful  and  affec- 
tionate pupil. 

While  the  disasters  of  the  American  army,  and  the  perse- 
verance of  the  British  ministry  presented  the  gloomy  pros- 
pect of  protracted  warfare,  young  Hamilton  appeared  to  be 
content  in  his  station  and  with  the  opportunities  which  he  had 
of  fighting  by  the  side  and  executing  the  orders  of  his  beloved 
chief.  But  the  investment  of  the  army  of  Comwallis  sud- 
denly changed  the  aspect  of  affairs  and  rendered  it  probable 
that  this  campaign,  if  successful,  would  be  the  most  bril- 
liant and  decisive  of  any  that  was  likely  to  occur.  It  now 
appeared  that  his  heart  had  long  panted  for  an  occasion  to 
signalize  his  intrepidity  and  devotion  to  the  service  of  his 
country. 

He  obtained,  by  earnest  entreaties,  the  command  of  a 
detachment  destined  to  storm  the  works  of  Yorktown.  It  is 
well  known  with  what  undaunted  courage  he  pressed  on  to 
the  assault,  with  unloaded  arms  presented  his  bosom  to  the 
dangers  of  the  bayonet,  carried  the  fort,  and  thus  eminently 
contributed  to  decide  the  fate  of  the  battle  and  of  his  coun- 
try. But  even  here  the  impetuosity  of  the  youthful  con- 
queror was  restrained  by  the  clemency  of  the  benevolent  man : 
the  butchery  of  the  American  garrison  at  New  London 
would  have  justified  and  seemed  to  demand  an  exercise  of 
the  rigors  of  retaliation.  This  was  strongly  intimated  to 
Colonel  Hamilton,  but  we  find  in  his  report  to  his  command- 
ing officer,  in  his  own  words,  that,  "incapable  of  imitating 
examples  of  barbarity,  and  forgetting  recent  provocations,  he 
spared  every  man  who  ceased  to  resist." 

Having  soon  afterward  terminated  his  military  career,  he 
returned  to  New  York  and  qualified  himself  to  commence  prac- 
tice as  a  counsellor  at  law.     But  the  duties  and  emoluments  of 


EULOGY    ON    ALEXANDER    HAMILTON  593 

his  profession  were  not  then  permitted  to  stifle  his  solicitude  to 
give  a  correct  tone  to  public  opinion  by  the  propagation  of 
principles  worthy  of  adoption  by  a  people  who  had  just  under- 
taken to  govern  themselves.  He  found  the  minds  of  men  chafed 
and  irritated  by  the  recollection  of  their  recent  suifering-s  and 
dangers.  The  city  of  ISTew  York,  so  long  a  garrison,,  pre- 
sented scenes  and  incidents  which  naturally  aggravated  these 
dispositions,  and  too  many  were  inclined  to  fan  the  flame  of 
discord  and  mar  the  enjoyment  and  advantages  of  peace  by 
fomenting  the  animosities  engendered  by  the  collisions  of 
war. 

To  soothe  these  angTy  passions;  to  heal  these  wounds;  to 
demonstrate  the  folly  and  inexpediency  of  scattering  the  bitter 
tares  of  national  prejudice  and  private  rancor  among  the  seeds 
of  public  prosperity,  were  objects  worthy  of  the  heart  and 
head  of  Hamilton.  To  these  he  applied  himself,  and  by  a 
luminous  pamphlet  assuaged  the  public  resentment  against 
those  whose  sentiments  had  led  them  to  oppose  the  Kevolu- 
tion ;  and  thus  preserved  from  exile  many  valuable  citizens 
who  have  supported  the  laws  and  increased  the  opulence  of 
their  native  state. 

From  this  period  he  appears  to  have  devoted  himself  prin- 
cipally to  professional  occupations,  which  were  multiplied  by 
his  increasing  celebrity,  until  he  became  a  member  of  the  con- 
vention which  met  at  Annapolis  merely  for  the  purpose  of 
devising  a  mode  of  levying  and  collecting  a  general  impost. 
Although  the  object  of  this  convention  was  tbus  limited,  yet 
so  manifold,  in  his  view,  were  the  defects  of  the  old  confedera- 
tion, that  a  reform  in  one  particular  would  be  ineffectual; 
he  therefore  first  suggested  the  proposal  of  attempting  a  rad- 
ical change  in  its  principles;  and  the  address  to  the  people 
of  the  United  States,  recommending  a  general  convention 

Vol  4-13 


194  HARRISON    GRAY    OTIS 

with  more  extensive  powers,  whicli  was  adopted  by  that 
assembly,  was  the  work  of  his  pen. 

To  the  second  convention,  which  framed  the  constitution, 
he  was  also  deputed  as  a  delegate  from  the  State  of  New  York. 

In  that  assemblage  of  the  brightest  jewels  of  America  the 
genius  of  Hamilton  sparkled  A^atli  pre-eminent  lustre.  The 
best  of  our  orators  were  improved  by  the  example  of  his 
eloquence.  The  most  experienced  of  our  statesmen  were 
instructed  by  the  solidity  of  his  sentiments,  and  all  were  con- 
vinced of  the  utility  and  extent  of  his  agency  in  framing  the 
constitution. 

When  the  instrument  was  presented  to  the  people  for  their 
ratification,  the  obstacles  incident  to  every  attempt  to  com- 
bine the  interests,  views,  and  opinions  of  the  various  States 
threatened,  in  some  of  them,  to  frustrate  the  hopes  and  exer- 
tions of  its  friends.  The  fears  of  the  timid,  the  jealousies 
of  the  ignorant,  the  arts  of  the  designing,  and  the  sincere  con- 
viction of  the  superficial,  were  arrayed  into  a  formidable  alli- 
ance in  opposition  to  the  system.  But  the  magic  pen  of  Ham- 
ilton dissolved  this  league.  Animated  by  the  magnitude  of 
his  object,  he  enriched  the  daily  papers  with  the  researches  of 
a  mind  teeming  with  political  information.  In  these  rapid 
essays,  written  amid  the  avocations  of  business  and  under 
the  pressure  of  the  occasion,  it  would  be  natural  to  expect 
that  much  would  require  revision  and  correction.  But  in  the 
mind  of  Hamilton  nothing  was  superficial  but  resentment  of 
injuries;  nothing  fugitive  but  those  transient  emotions  which 
sometimes  lead  virtue  astray.  These  productions  of  his  pen 
are  now  considered  as  a  standard  commentary  upon  the  nature 
of  our  government;  and  ho  lived  to  hear  them  quoted  by  his 
friends  and  adversaries,  as  high  authority,  in  the  tribunals  of 
justice  and  in  the  legislature  of  the  nation. 


EULOGY    ON    ALEXANDER    HAMILTON  195 

When  the  constitution  was  adopted,  and  Washington  was 
called  to  the  presidency  bj  his  gTateful  country,  our  departed 
friend  was  appointed  to  the  charge  of  the  treasury  depart- 
ment, and  of  consequence  became  a  confidential  member  of 
the  administration.  In  this  new  sphere  of  action  he  dis- 
played a  ductility  and  extent  of  genius,  a  fertility  in  expe- 
dients, a  faculty  of  an'angenient,  an  industry  in  application  to 
business,  and  a  promptitude  in  despatch,  but,  beyond  all,  a 
purity  of  public  virtue  and  disinterestedness,  which  are  too 
mighty  for  the  grasp  of  my  feeble  powers  of  description. 

Indeed,  the  public  character  of  Hamilton  and  his  measures 
from  this  period  are  so  intimately  connected  with  the  his- 
tory of  our  country  that  it  is  impossible  to  do  justice  to 
one  without  devoting  a  volume  to  the  other.  The  treasury  of 
the  United  States,  at  the  time  of  his  entrance  upon  the  duties 
of  his  office,  was  literally  a  creature  of  the  imagination  and 
existed  only  in  name,  unless  folios  of  unsettled  balances  and 
bundles  of  reproachful  claims  were  deserving  the  name  of  a 
treasury. 

Money  there  was  none;  and  of  public  credit  scarcely  a 
shadow  remained.  No  national  system  for  raising  and  col- 
lecting a  revenue  had  been  attempted,  and  no  estimate  could 
be  formed,  from  the  experiments  of  the  different  States,  of 
the  probable  result  of  any  project  of  deriving  it  from  com- 
merce. The  national  debt  was  not  only  unpaid,  but  its  amount 
was  a  subject  of  uncertainty  and  conjecture.  Such  was  the 
chaos  from  which  the  secretary  was  called  upon  to  elicit 
the  elements  of  a  regular  system  adequate  to  the  immediate 
exigencies  of  a  new  and  expensive  establishment,  and  to  an 
honorable  provision  for  the  public  debt.  His  arduous  duty 
was  not  to  reform  abuses,  but  to  create  resources;  not  to 
improve  upon  precedent,  but  to  invent  a  model.     In  an  ocean 


196  HARRISON    GRAY    OTIS 

of  experiment  lie  had  neither  chart  nor  compass  but  those  of 
his  own  invention.  Yet  such  was  the  comprehensive  vigor  of 
his  mind  that  his  original  projects  possessed  the  hardihood 
of  settled  regulations.  His  sketches  were  little  short  of  the 
perfection  of  finislied  pictures.  In  the  first  session  of  Con- 
gress he  produced  a  plan  for  the  organization  of  the  trea- 
sury department  and  for  the  collection  of  a  national  revenue  ; 
and  in  the  second,  a  report  of  a  system  for  funding  the 
national  debt.  Great  objections  were  urged  against  the  expe- 
diency of  the  principles  assumed  by  him  for  the  basis  of 
his  system ;  but  no  doubt  remained  of  their  effect.  A  dormant 
capital  was  revived,  and  with  it  commerce  and  agriculture 
awoke  as  from  the  sleep  of  death.  By  the  enchantment  of 
this  "  mighty  magician  "  the  beauteous  fabric  of  public  credit 
rose  in  full  majesty  upon  the  ruins  of  the  old  confederation; 
and  men  gazed  ^^dtll  astonishment  upon  a  youthful  prodigy 
who  at  the  age  of  thirty-three,  having  already  been  the  orna- 
ment of  the  camp,  the  forum,  and  the  senate,  was  now  sud- 
denly transformed  into  an  accomplished  financier  and  a 
self-taught  adept,  not  only  in  the  general  principles,  but  the 
intricate  details,  of  his  new  department. 

It  is  not  wonderful  that  such  resplendent  powers  of  doing 
right  should  have  exposed  him  to  the  suspicion  of  doing  wrong. 
He  was  suspected  and  accused.  His  political  adversaries  w^ere 
his  judges.  Their  investigation  of  his  conduct  and  honorable 
acquittal  added  new  lustre  to  his  fainc  and  confirmed  the 
national  sentiment  that  in  his  public  character  he  was  indeed 
"a  man  without  fear  and  without  reproach." 

To  his  exertions  in  tliis  department  we  are  indebted  for 
many  important  institutions.  Among  others,  the  plan  of 
redeeming  the  public  debt,  and  of  a  national  bank  to  facil- 
itate the  operations  of  government,  were  m»atured  and  adopted 


EULOGY    ON    ALEXANDER    HAMILTON 


197 


under  his  auspices;  and  so  complete  were  his  arrangements 
that  his  successors,  though  men  of  undoubted  talents,  and  one 
of  them  a  political  opponent,  have  found  nothing  susceptible 
of  material  improvement. 

But  the  obligations  of  his  country  during  this  period  were 
not  confined  to  his  merits  as  a  financier. 

The  flame  of  insurrection  was  kindled  in  the  western  coun- 
ties of  Pennsylvania,  and  raged  with  such  violence  that  large 
detachments  of  military  force  were  marched  to  the  scene  of 
the  disturbance,  and  the  presence  of  the  great  Washington 
was  judged  necessary  to  quell  the  increasing  spirit  of  revolt. 
He  ordered  the  secretary  to  quit  the  duties  of  his  department 
and  attend  him  on  the  expedition.  His  versatile  powers  were 
immediately  and  efiicaciously  applied  to  restore  the  authority 
of  the  laws.  The  principal  burden  of  the  important  civil  and 
military  arrangements  requisite  for  this  purpose  devolved 
upon  his  shoulders.  It  was  owing  to  his  humanity  that  the 
leaders  of  this  rebellion  escaped  exemplary  punishment:  and 
the  successful  issue  was,  in  public  and  unqualified  terms, 
ascribed  to  him  by  those  whose  political  relations  would  not 
have  prompted  them  to  pay  him  the  homage  of  unmerited 
praise. 

He  was  highly  instrumental  in  preserving  our  peace  and 
neutrality,  and  saving  us  from  the  ruin  which  has  befallen 
the  republics  of  the  Old  World.  Upon  this  topic  I  am 
desirous  of  avoiding  every  intimation  which  might  prove  offen- 
sive to  individuals  of  any  party.  God  forbid  that  the  sacred 
sorrow  in  which  we  all  unite  should  be  disturbed  by  the  mix- 
ture of  any  unkindly  emotions!  I  would  merely  do  justice  to 
this  honored  shade  without  arraigning  the  motives  of  those 
who  disapproved  and  opposed  his  measures. 

The  dangers  which  menaced  our  infant  government  at  the 


198  HARRISON    GRAY    OTIS 

commencement  of  the  French  revolution  are  no  longer  a  sub- 
ject of  controversy.  The  principles  professed  by  the  first  leaders 
of  that  revolution  were  so  congenial  to  those  of  the  American 
people;  their  pretences  of  aiming  merely  at  the  reformation 
of  abuses  were  so  plausible;  the  spectacle  of  a  great  people 
struggling  to  recover  their  "  long-lost  liberties  "  was  so  impos- 
ing and  august;  while  that  of  a  combination  of  tyrants  to 
conquer  and  subjugate  was  so  revolting;  the  services,  received 
from  one  of  the  belligerent  powers,  and  the  injuries  inflicted 
by  the  other,  were  so  recent  in  our  minds, — that  the  sensi- 
bility of  the  nation  was  excited  to  the  most  exquisite  pitch. 

To  this  disposition,  so  favorable  to  the  wishes  of  France, 
every  appeal  was  made  which  intrigue,  corruption,  flattery, 
and  threats  could  dictate.  At  this  dangerous  and  dazzling 
crisis  there  were  but  few  men  entirely  exempt  from  the  gen- 
eral delirium. 

Among  that  few  was  Hamilton.  His  penetrating  eye  dis- 
cerned, and  his  prophetic  voice  foretold,  the  tendency  and  con- 
sequence of  the  first  revolutionar}'  movements.  He  was 
assured  that  every  people  which  should  espouse  the  cause  of 
France  would  pass  under  her  yoke,  and  that  the  people  of 
France,  like  every  nation  which  surrenders  its  reason  to  the 
mercy  of  demagogues,  would  be  driven  by  the  storms  of 
anarchy  upon  the  shores  of  despotism.  All  this  he  knew  was 
conformable  to  the  invariable  law  of  nature  and  experience 
of  mankind.  From  the  reach  of  this  desolation  he  was  anx- 
ious to  save  his  country,  and  in  the  pursuit  of  his  purpose  he 
breasted  the  assaults  of  calumny  and  prejudice.  "  The  tor- 
rent roared,  and  he  did  buffet  it." 

Appreciating  the  advantages  of  a  neutral  position,  he 
co-operated  with  Washington,  Adams,  and  the  other  patriots 
of  that  day   in  the  means  best  adapted  to  maintain  it.     The 


EULOGY    ON    ALEXANDER    HAMILTON  Xgg 

rights  and  duties  of  neutrality,  proclaimed  by  the  President, 
were  explained  and  enforced  by  Hamilton  in  the  character  of 
Pacificus.  The  attempts  to  corrupt  and  intimidate  were 
resisted.  The  British  treaty  was  justified  and  defended  as  an 
honorable  compact  with  our  natural  friends,  and  pregnant  with 
advantages  which  have  since  been  realized  and  acknowledged 
by  its  opponents. 

By  this  pacific  and  vigorous  policy,  in  the  whole  course  of 
which  the  genius  and  activity  of  Hamilton  were  conspicuous, 
time  and  information  were  afforded  to  the  American  nation, 
and  correct  views  were  acquired  of  our  situation  and  interests. 
We  beheld  the  republics  of  Europe  march  in  procession  to  the 
funeral  of  their  own  liberties  by  the  lurid  light  of  the  revolu- 
tionary torch.  The  tumult  of  the  passions  subsided,  the  wis- 
dom of  the  administration  was  perceived,  and  America  now 
remains  a  solitary  monument  in  the  desolated  plains  of  liberty. 

Having  remained  at  the  head  of  the  treasury  several  years 
and  filled  its  coffers,  having  developed  the  sources  of  an  ample 
revenue  and  tested  the  advantages  of  his  own  system  by  his 
own  experience,  and  having  expended  his  private  fortune,  he 
found  it  necessary  to  retire  from  public  employment  and  to 
devote  his  attention  to  the  claims  of  a  large  and  dear  family. 
What  brighter  instance  of  disinterested  honor  has  ever  been 
exhibited  to  an  admiring  world ! 

That  a  man  upon  whom  devolved  the  task  of  originating 
a  system  of  revenue  for  a  nation;  of  devising  the  checks  in  his 
own  department;  of  providing  for  the  collection  of  sums  the 
amount  of  which  was  conjectural;  that  a  man  who  anticipated 
the  effects  of  a  funding  system  yet  a  secret  in  his  own  bosom, 
and  who  was  thus  enabled  to  have  secured  a  princely  fortune 
consistently  wdth  principles  esteemed  fair  by  the  world;  that 
such  a  man,  by  no  means  addicted  to  an  expensive  or  extrava- 


200  HARRISON    GRAY    OTIS 

gant  style  of  living,  should  have  retired  from  office  destitute 
of  means  adequate  to  the  wants  of  mediocrity,  and  have 
resorted  to  professional  labor  for  the  means  of  decent  support, 
are  facts  which  must  instruct  and  astonish  those  who,  in  coun- 
tries habituated  to  corruption  and  venality,  are  more  attentive 
to  the  gains  than  to  the  duties  of  official  station.  Yet  Hamil- 
ton was  that  man.  It  was  a  fact,  alwavs  known  to  his  friends, 
and  it  is  now  evident  from  his  testament,  made  under  a  deep 
presentiment  of  his  approaching  fate.  Blush,  then,  ministers 
and  warriors  of  imperial  France,  who  have  deluded  your 
nation  by  pretensions  to  a  disinterested  regard  for  its  liberties 
and  rights!  Disgorge  the  riches  extorted  from  your  fellow 
citizens  and  the  spoils  amassed  from  confiscation  and  blood! 
Restore  to  impoverished  nations  the  price  paid  by  them  for  the 
privilege  of  slavery  and  now  appropriated  to  the  refinements  of 
luxury  and  coniiption!  Approach  the  tomb  of  Hamilton  and 
compare  the  insignificance  of  your  gorgeous  palaces  with  the 
awful  majesty  of  this  tenement  of  clay ! 

We  again  accompany  our  friend  in  the  walks  of  private  life 
and  in  the  assiduous  pursuit  of  his  profession  until  the  aggres- 
sions of  France  compelled  the  nation  to  assume  the  attitude  of 
defence.  He  was  now  invited  by  the  great  and  enlightened 
statesman  who  had  succeeded  to  the  Presidency,  and  at  the 
express  request  of  the  commander-in-chief,  to  accept  of  the  sec- 
ond rank  in  the  army.  Though  no  man  had  manifested  a 
greater  desire  to  avoid  war,  yet  it  is  freely  confessed  that  when 
war  appeared  to  be  inevitable  his  heart  exulted  in  "  the  tented 
field  "  and  he  loved  the  life  and  occupation  of  a  soldier.  His 
early  habits  were  formed  amid  the  fascinations  of  the  camp. 
And  though  the  pacific  policy  of  Adams  once  more  rescued  us 
from  war  and  shortened  the  existence  of  the  army  establish- 
ment, yet  its  duration  was  sufficient  to  secure  to  him  the  love 


EULOGY    OX    ALEXANDER    HAMILTOX  201 

and  confidence  of  officers  and  men,  to  enable  liini  to  display 
the  talents  and  qualities  of  a  great  general,  and  to  justify  the 
most  favorable  prognostics  of  his  prowess  in  the  field. 

Once  more  this  excellent  man  unloosed  the  helmet  from  his 
brow  and  returned  to  the  duties  of  the  forum.  From  this 
time  he  persisted  in  a  finu  resolution  to  decline  all  civil  honors 
and  promotion  and  to  live  a  private  citizen  unless  again  sum- 
moned to  the  defence  of  his  country.  He  became  more  than 
ever  assiduous  in  his  practice  at  the  bar,  and  intent  upon  his 
plans  of  domestic  happiness,  until  a  nice  and  mistaken  estimate 
of  the  claims  of  honor  impelled  him  to  the  fatal  act  which 
terminated  his  life. 

While  it  is  far  from  my  intention  to  draw  a  veil  over  this 
last  great  error,  or  in  the  least  measure  to  justify  a  practice 
which  threatens  in  its  progress  to  destroy  the  liberty  of  speech 
and  of  opinion,  it  is  but  justice  to  the  deceased  to  state  the  cir- 
cumstances which  should  palliate  the  resentment  that  may  be 
excited  in  some  good  minds  toward  his  memory.  From  the 
last  sad  memorial  which  we  possess  from  his  hand,  and  in 
which,  if  our  tears  permit,  we  may  trace  the  sad  presage  of  the 
impending  catastrophe,  it  appears  that  his  religious  principles 
were  at  variance  with  the  practice  of  duelling,  and  that  he 
could  not  reconcile  his  benevolent  heart  to  shed  the  blood  of  an 
adversary  in  private  combat,  even  in  his  own  defence.  It  was, 
then,  from  public  motives  that  he  committed  this  great  mis- 
take. It  was  for  the  benefit  of  his  country  that  he  erroneously 
conceived  himself  obliged  to  make  the  painful  sacrifice  of  his 
principles  and  to  expose  his  life.  The  sober  judgment  of  the 
man  was  confounded  and  misdirected  by  the  jealous  honor  of 
the  soldier;  and  he  evidently  adverted  to  the  possibility  of 
events  that  might  render  indispensable  the  esteem  and  confi- 
dence of  soldiers  as  well  as  of  citizens. 


202  HARRISON    GRAY    OTIS 

But  while  religion  mourns  for  this  aberration  of  the  judg- 
ment of  a  great  man,  she  derives  some  consolation  from  his  tes- 
timony in  her  favor.  If  she  rejects  the  apology,  she  admits  the 
repentance;  and  if  the  good  example  be  not  an  atonement,  it 
may  be  an  antidote  for  the  bad.  Let  us,  then,  in  an  age  of  infi- 
delity, join,  in  imagination,  the  desolate  group  of  wife  and 
children  and  friends  who  surrounded  the  dying  bed  of  the  in- 
quisitive, the  luminous,  the  scientific  Hamilton,  and  witness 
his  attestation  to  the  truth  and  comforts  of  our  holy  religion. 
Let  us  behold  the  lofty  warrior  bow  his  head  before  the  cross 
of  the  meek  and  lowly  Jesus;  and  he  who  had  so  lately  graced 
the  sumptuous  tables  and  society  of  the  luxurious  and  rich, 
now,  regardless  of  these  meaner  pleasures,  aspiring  to  be  ad- 
mitted to  a  sublime  enjoyment  with  which  no  worldly  joys  can 
compare, — to  a  devout  and  humble  participation  of  the  Bread 
of  Life.  The  religious  fervor  of  his  last  moments  was  not  an 
impulse  of  deca;)ang  nature  jdelding  to  its  fears,  but  the  result 
of  a  firm  con\4ction  of  the  truths  of  the  gospel.  I  am  well 
informed  that  in  early  life  the  evidences  of  the  Christian  re- 
ligion had  attracted  his  serious  examination  and  obtained 
his  deliberate  assent  to  their  truth,  and  that  he  daily,  upon  his 
knees,  devoted  a  portion  of  time  to  a  compliance  with  one  of  its 
most  important  injunctions:  and  that,  however  these  edifying 
propensities  might  have  yielded  occasionally  to  the  business  and 
temptations  of  life,  they  always  resumed  their  influence  and 
would  probably  have  prompted  him  to  a  public  profession  of 
his  faith  in  his  Redeemer. 

Such  was  the  untimely  fate  of  Alexander  Hamilton,  whose 
character  warrants  the  apprehension  that,  "  take  him  for  all 
in  all,  we  ne'er  shall  look  upon  his  like  again." 

Nature,  even  in  the  partial  distribution  of  her  favors,  gen- 
erally limits  the  attainments  of  great  men  within  distinct  and 


EULOGY    ON    ALEXANDER    HAMILTON  203 

particular  spheres  of  eminence.  But  he  was  the  darling  of 
nature  and  privileged  beyond  the  rest  of  her  favorites.  His 
mind  caught  at  a  glance  that  perfect  comprehension  of  a  sub- 
ject for  which  others  are  indebted  to  patient  labor  and  investi- 
gation. In  whatever  department  he  was  called  to  act  he  dis- 
covered an  intuitive  knowledge  of  its  duties  which  gave  him 
an  immediate  ascendency  over  those  who  had  made  them  the 
study  of  their  lives;  so  that,  after  running  through  the  circle  of 
office  as  a  soldier,  statesman,  and  financier,  no  question 
remained  for  which  he  had  been  qualified,  but  only  in  which 
he  had  evinced  the  most  superlative  merit.  He  did  not  dissem- 
ble his  attachment  to  a  military  life,  nor  his  consciousness  of 
possessing  talents  for  command ;  yet  no  man  more  strenuously 
advocated  the  rights  of  the  civil  over  the  military  power,  nor 
more  cheerfully  abdicated  command  and  returned  to  the  rank 
of  the  citizen  when  his  country  could  dispense  with  the  neces- 
sity of  an  army. 

In  his  private  profession,  at  a  bar  abounding  with  men  of 
learning  and  experience,  he  was  without  a  rival.  He  arranged, 
with  the  happiest  facility,  the  materials  collected  in  the  vast 
storehouse  of  his  memory,  surveyed  his  subject  under  all  its 
aspects,  and  enforced  his  arguments  with  such  powers  of  rea- 
soning that  nothing  was  wanting  to  produce  conviction  and 
generally  to  ensure  success.  His  eloquence  combined  the  ner- 
vousness and  copious  elegance  of  the  Greek  and  Roman  schools 
and  gave  him  the  choice  of  his  clients  and  his  business.  These 
wonderful  powers  were  accompanied  by  a  natural  politeness 
and  winning  condescension  which  forestalled  the  envy  of  his 
brethren.  Their  hearts  were  gained  before  their  pride  was 
alarmed;  and  they  united  in  their  approbation  of  a  pre-emi- 
nence which  reflected  honor  on  their  fraternity. 

From  such  talents,  adorned  by  incorruptible  honesty  and 


204  HARRISON    GRAY    OTIS 

boundless  generosity,  an  immense  personal  influence  over  his 
political  and  private  friends  was  inseparable ;  and  by  those  who 
(lid  not  know  him,  and  who  saw  the  use  to  which  ambition 
might  apply  it,  he  was  sometimes  suspected  of  views  unpropi- 
tious  to  the  nature  of  our  government.  The  charge  was  incon- 
sistent with  the  exertions  he  had  made  to  render  that  govern- 
ment, in  its  present  form,  worthy  of  the  attachment  and  sup- 
port of  the  people,  and  his  voluntary  relinquishment  of  the 
means  of  ambition,  the  purse-strings  of  the  nation.  He  was, 
indeed,  ambitious,  but  not  of  power;  he  was  ambitious  only  to 
convince  the  world  of  the  spotless  integrity  of  his  administra- 
tion and  character.  This  was  the  key  to  the  finest  sensibilities 
of  his  heart.  He  shrunk  from  the  imputation  of  misconduct  in 
public  life:  and  if  his  judgment  ever  misled  him,  it  was  only 
when  warped  by  an  excessive  eagerness  to  vindicate  himself  at 
the  expense  of  his  discretion.  To  calumny  in  every  other 
shape  he  opposed  the  defence  of  dig-nified  silence  and  con- 
tempt. 

Had  such  a  character  been  exempt  from  foibles  and  frailties 
it  would  not  have  been  human.  Yet  so  small  was  the  cata- 
logue of  these  that  they  would  have  escaped  observation  but 
for  the  unparalleled  frankness  of  his  nature,  which  prompted 
him  to  confess  them  to  the  world.  He  did  not  consider  great- 
ness as  an  authority  for  habitual  vice;  and  he  repented  with 
such  contrition  of  casual  error  that  none  remained  offended 
but  those  who  never  had  a  right  to  complain.  The  virtues  of 
his  private  and  domestic  character  comprised  whatever  con- 
ciliates affection  and  begets  respect.  To  envy  he  was  a 
stranger,  and  of  merit  and  talents  the  unaffected  eulogist  and 
admirer.  The  charms  of  his  conversation,  the  brilliance  of  his 
wit,  his  regard  to  decorum,  his  ineffable  good  humor,  which 
led  him  down  from  the  highest  range  of  intellect  to  the  level 


EULOGY    OX    ALEXANDER    HAMILTON  205 

of  colloquial  pleasantry,  will  never  be  forgotten,  perhaps  never 
equalled. 

To  observe  that  such  a  man  was  dear  to  his  family  would  be 
superfluous.  To  describe  how  dear,  impossible.  Of  this  we 
might  obtain  some  adequate  conception  could  we  look  into  the 
retreat  which  he  had  chosen  for  the  solace  of  his  future  years; 
which,  enlivened  by  his  presence,  was  so  lately  the  mansion  of 
cheerfulness  and  content;  but  now,  alas!  of  lamentation  and 
woe ! 

"  For  him  no  more  the  blazing  hearth  shall  burn, 
Or  tender  consort  wait  with  anxious  care; 
No  children  run  to  lisp  their  sire's  return, 
Or  climb  his  knees,  the  envied  kiss  to  share." 

With  his  eye  upon  the  eternal  world,  this  dying  hero  had 
been  careful  to  prepare  a  testament  almost  for  the  sole  purpose 
of  bequeathing  to  his  orphans  the  rich  legacy  of  his  principles; 
and  having  exhibited,  in  his  last  hours,  to  this  little  band  the 
manner  in  which  a  Christian  should  die,  he  drops,  in  his  flight 
to  heaven,  a  summary  of  the  principles  by  which  a  man  of 
honor  should  live. 

The  universal  sorrow  manifested  in  every  part  of  the  Union 
upon  the  melancholy  exit  of  this  great  man  is  an  unequivocal 
testimonial  of  the  public  opinion  of  his  worth.  The  place  of 
his  residence  is  overspread  with  a  gloom  which  bespeaks  the 
presence  of  a  public  calamity,  and  the  prejudices  of  party  are 
absorbed  in  the  overflowing  tide  of  national  grief. 

It  is  indeed  a  subject  of  consolation  that  diversity  of  politi- 
cal opinions  has  not  yet  extinguished  the  sentiment  of  public 
gratitude.  There  is  yet  a  hope  that  events  like  these,  which 
bring  home  to  our  bosoms  the  sensation  of  a  common  loss,  may 
yet  remind  us  of  our  common  interest  and  of  the  times  when 
with  one  accord  we  joined  in  the  homage  of  respect  to  our  liv- 
ing as  well  as  to  our  deceased  worthies. 


•JOR  IIAKinSON    «KAV    OTIS 

Should  those  days  once  more  return,  when  the  people  of 
America,  united  as  they  once  were  united,  shall  make  merit 
the  measure  of  their  approbation  and  confidence,  we  may  hope 
for  a  constant  succession  of  patriots  and  heroes.  But  should 
our  country  be  rent  by  factions,  and  the  merit  of  the  man  b6 
estimated  by  the  zeal  of  the  partizan,  irreparable  will  be  the 
loss  of  those  few  men  who,  having  once  been  esteemed  by  all, 
might  again  have  acquired  the  confidence  of  all  and  saved 
their  country  in  an  hour  of  peril  by  their  talents  and  vir- 
tues. 

"  So  stream  the  sorrows  that  embalm  the  brave; 
The  tears  which  virtue  sheds  on  glory's  grave." 


SIR  JAMES  MACKOTOSH 


hu  James  Mackintosh,  Scottish  philosopher,  statesman,  historian,  and 
publicist,  was  born  at  Aldourie,  near  Inverness,  Scotland,  Oct.  24,  1765, 
and  died  at  London,  May  30,  1832.  After  graduating  at  King's  Col- 
lege, Aberdeen,  he  studied  both  medicine  and  law  at  Edinburgh,  and 
for  a  time  practiced  the  latter,  gaining  a  high  reputation  at  the  London  Bar  for 
his  eloquent  defence  of  the  French  refugee,  Peltier,  who,  at  the  instance  of  the 
French  government,  was  in  1803  tried  for  libelling  the  First  Consul  (see  ap- 
pended Speech).  In  the  following  year  he  was  knighted  and  given  the  post  of 
recorder  at  Bombay,  with  a  judgeship  in  the  vice-admiralty  court  in  India,  return- 
ing to  England  in  1812.  He  then  entered  Parliament,  in  the  interest  of  the  Whig 
party,  but  while  there  did  not  add  greatly  to  his  reputation,  and  in  1818  he  became 
professor  of  law  and  general  politics  in  the  East  India  Company's  College  at  Hailey- 
bury.  Here  he  interested  himself  as  an  historian  of  the  Revolution  in  England, 
and  as  a  writer  on  the  "Progress  of  Ethical  Philosophy."  He  also  wrote  a  work 
designed  as  a  reply  to  Burke's  condemnation  of  the  French  Revolution,  entitled 
"  Vindiciffi  GaUiciw,"  one  of  the  three  works  of  his  which  may  be  said  to  have  per- 
manent value.  He  was  lacking  in  genius,  though  cultured  and  dispassionate  as  a 
writer,  while  as  an  orator  his  eloquence  is  diffuse  rather  than  brilliant.  In  1830, 
he  was  appointed  commissioner  for  the  affairs  of  India  under  the  Whig  administra- 
tion of  that  era,  but  died  two  years  later. 


ON  THE  TRIAL  OF  JEAN  PELTIER 

[In  1802  Mr.  Peltier  founded  a  French  newspaper  in  London, Jcalled  "L'Ambigu," 
and  put  on  the  frontispiece  the  figure  of  a  sphinx  (emblematic  of  mystery),  with  a 
head  which  strikingly  resembled  that  of  Bonaparte,  wearing  a  crown.  Its  pages 
were  filled  with  instances  of  the  despotism  of  the  First  Consul,  some  violent  and 
some  ridiculous,  and  it  was  characterized,  on  the  whole,  by  great  bitterness,  while 
one  of  the  numbers  directly  hinted  at  the  assassination  of  Bonaparte. 

These  things  gave  so  much  annoyance  to  Bonaparte  that  he  actually  demanded 
that  the  English  government  send  Peltier  out  of  the  kingdom;  and  when  this  was 
refused  he  insisted,"  as  France  was  then  at  peace  with  England,  that  Mr.  Peltier 
should  be  prosecuted  by  the  English  attorney-general  for  "a  libel  on  a  friendly 
government!"  upon  which  subject  the  laws  of  England  were  strict  even  to  severity.] 

(207) 


208  SIR    JAMES    MACKINTOSH 

GEXTLEMEX  OF  THE  JURY,— The  time  is  now 
c^me  for  me  to  address  jou  in  behalf  of  the  unfor- 
tunate gentleman  who  is  the  defendant  on  this 
record. 

I  must  begin  with  observ^ing  that  though  I  know  myself  too 
well  to  ascribe  to  auvtliing  but  to  the  kindness  and  good  nature 
of  my  learned  friend,  the  Attorney  General,  the  unmerited 
praises  which  he  has  been  pleased  to  bestow  on  me,  yet,  I  will 
venture  to  say,  he  has  done  me  no  more  than  justice  in  suppos- 
ing that  in  this  place  and  on  this  occasion,  where  I  exercise  the 
functions  of  an  inferior  minister  of  justice, — an  inferior  min- 
ister, indeed,  but  a  minister  of  justice  still, — I  am  incapable 
of  lending  myself  to  the  passions  of  any  client,  and  that  I  will 
not  make  the  proceedings  of  this  court  subservient  to  any  polit- 
ical purpose.  Whatever  is  respected  by  the  laws  and  govern- 
ment of  my  country  shall  in  this  place  be  respected  by  me. 
In  considering  matters  that  deeply  interest  the  quiet,  the 
safety,  and  the  liberty  of  all  mankind,  it  is  impossible  for  me 
not  to  feel  warmly  and  strongly;  but  I  shall  make  an  effort  to 
control  my  feelings,  however  painful  that  effort  may  be,  and 
where  I  cannot  speak  out  but  at  the  risk  of  offending  either 
sincerity  or  prudence  I  shall  labor  to  contain  myself  and  be 
silent. 

I  cannot  but  feel,  gentlemen,  how  much  I  stand  in  need  of 
your  favorable  attention  and  indulgence.  The  charge  which  I 
have  to  defend  is  surrounded  with  the  most  invidious  topics  of 
discussion ;  but  they  are  not  of  my  seeking.  The  case  and  the 
topics  which  are  inseparable  from  it  are  brought  here  by  the 
prosecutor.  Here  I  find  them,  and  here  it  is  my  duty  to  deal 
with  them  as  the  interests  of  Mr.  Peltier  seem  to  me  to  require. 
He,  by  his  choice  and  confidence,  has  cast  on  me  a  very  ardu- 
ous duty  which  T  could  not  decline   and  which  I  can  still  less 


ON  THE  TRIAL  OF  JEAN  PELTIER  209 

betray.  He  has  a  right  to  expect  from  me  a  faithful,  a  zealous, 
and  a  fearless  defence;  and  this  his  just  expectation,  accord- 
ing to  the  measure  of  my  humble  abilities,  shall  be  fulfilled. 

I  have  said  a  fearless  defence.  Perhaps  that  word  was 
unnecessary  in  the  place  where  I  now  stand.  Intrepidity  in 
the  discharge  of  professional  duty  is  so  common  a  quality  at 
the  English  bar  that  it  has,  thank  God,  long  ceased  to  be  a  mat- 
ter of  boast  or  praise.  If  it  had  been  otherwise,  gentlemen,  if 
the  bar  could  have  been  silenced  or  overawed  by  power,  I  may 
presume  to  say  that  an  English  juiy  would  not  this  day  have 
been  met  to  administer  justice.  Perhaps  I  need  scarce  say  that 
my  defence  shall  be  fearless  in  a  place  where  fear  never 
entered  any  heart  but  that  of  a  criminal.  But  you  will  pardon 
me  for  having  said  so  much  when  you  consider  who  the  real 
parties  before  you  are. 

Gentlemen,  the  real  prosecutor  is  the  master  of  the  greatest 
empire  the  civilized  world  ever  saw.  The  defendant  is  a 
defenceless,  proscribed  exile.  He  is  a  French  Royalist,  who 
fled  from  his  country  in  the  autumn  of  1792,  at  the  period  of 
that  memorable  and  awful  emigTation  when  all  the  proprietors 
and  magistrates  of  the  greatest  civilized  country  of  Europe 
were  driven  from  their  homes  by  the  daggers  of  assassins; 
when  our  shores  were  covered,  as  with  the  wreck  of  a  great 
tempest,  with  old  men,  and  women,  and  children,  and  minis- 
ters of  religion,  who  fled  from  the  ferocity  of  their  country- 
men as  before  an  army  of  invading  barbarians. 

The  greatest  part  of  these  unfortunate  exiles^ — of  those,  I 
mean,  who  have  been  spared  by  the  sword,  who  have  sur\aved 
the  effect  of  pestilential  climates  or  broken  hearts — have  been 
since  permitted  to  revisit  their  country.  Though  despoiled  of 
their  all,  they  have  eagerly  embraced  even  the  sad  privilege 
of  being  suffered  to  die  in  their  native  land. 

Vol.  4—14 


210  SIR    JAMES    MACKINTOSH 

Even  tliis  miserable  indulgence  was  to  be  purchased  by  com- 
pliances, by  declarations  of  allegiance  to  the  new  government, 
which  some  of  these  suifering  Royalists  deemed  incompatible 
with  their  consciences,  with  their  dearest  attachments,  and 
their  most  sacred  duties.  Among  these  last  is  Mr.  Peltier.  I 
do  not  presume  to  blame  those  who  submitted,  and  I  trust  you 
will  not  judge  harshly  of  those  who  refused.  You  will  not 
think  unfavorably  of  a  man  who  stands  before  you  as  the  vol- 
untary victim  of  his  loyalty  and  honor.  If  a  revolution  (which 
God  avert)  were  to  drive  us  into  exile  and  to  cast  us  on  a  for- 
eign shore,  we  should  expect,  at  least,  to  be  pardoned  by  gen- 
erous men  for  stubborn  loyalty  and  unseasonable  fidelity  to 
the  laws  and  government  of  our  fathers. 

This  unfortunate  gentleman  had  devoted  a  great  part  of  his 
life  to  literature.  It  was  the  amusement  and  ornament  of 
his  better  days.  Since  his  own  ruin  and  the  desolation  of  his 
country  he  has  been  compelled  to  employ  it  as  a  means  of 
support.  For  the  last  ten  years  he  has  been  engaged  in  a 
variety  of  publications  of  considerable  importance;  but  since 
the  peace  he  has  desisted  from  serious  political  discussion  and 
confined  himself  to  the  obscure  journal  which  is  now  before 
you,  the  least  calculated,  surely,  of  any  publication  that  ever 
issued  from  the  press,  to  rouse  the  alarms  of  the  most  jealous 
government;  which  ^^'ill  not  be  read  in  England  because  it  is 
not  written  in  our  language ;  which  cannot  be  read  in  France 
because  its  entry  into  that  country  is  prohibited  by  a  power 
whose  mandates  are  not  very  supinely  enforced  nor  often 
evaded  with  impunity;  which  can  have  no  other  object  than 
that  of  amusing  the  companions  of  the  author's  principles  and 
misfortunes,  by  pleasantries  and  sarcasms  on  their  victorious 
enemies. 

There  is,  indeed,  gentlemen,  one  remarkable  circumstance 


ON    THE    TRIAL    OF    JEAN    PELTIER  211 

in  this  unfortunate  publication;  it  is  the  only,  or  almost  the 
only  journal  which  still  dares  to  espouse  the  cause  of  that 
royal  and  illustrious  family  which  but  fourteen  years  ago 
was  flattered  by  every  press  and  guarded  by  every  tribunal 
in  Europe,  Even  the  court  in  which  we  are  met  affords  an 
example  of  the  vicissitudes  of  their  fortune.  My  learned 
friend  has  reminded  you  that  the  last  prosecution  tried  in  this 
place  at  the  instance  of  a  French  government  was  for  a  libel 
on  that  magnanimous  princess  who  has  since  been  butchered 
in  sight  of  her  palace. 

I  do  not  make  these  observations  with  any  purpose  of  ques- 
tioning the  general  principles  which  have  been  laid  down  by 
my  learned  friend.  I  must  admit  his  right  to  bring  before 
you  those  who  libel  any  government  recogiiized  by  his 
Majesty  and  at  peace  with  the  British  empire.  I  admit  that 
whether  such  a  government  be  of  yesterday  or  a  thousand 
years  old,  whether  it  be  a  crude  and  bloody  usurpation  or  the 
most  ancient,  just,  and  paternal  authority  upon  earth,  we  are 
here  equally  bound,  by  his  Majesty's  recognition,  to  protect 
it  against  libellous  attacks.  I  admit  that  if,  during  our  usur- 
pation, Lord  Clarendon  had  published  his  history  at  Paris,  or 
the  Marquess  of  Montrose  his  verses  on  the  murder  of  his 
sovereign,  or  Mr.  Crowley  his  "  Discourse  on  Cromwell's  Gov- 
ernment," and  if  the  English  ambassador  had  complained,  the 
President  De  Moli,  or  any  other  of  the  great  magistrates  who 
then  adorned  the  Parliament  of  Paris,  however  reluctantly, 
painfully,  and  indignantly,  might  have  been  compelled  to  have 
condemned  these  illustrious  men  to  the  punishment  of  libel- 
lers. I  say  this  only  for  the  sake  of  bespeaking  a  favorable 
attention,  from  your  generosity  and  compassion,  to  what  will 
be  feebly  urged  in  behalf  of  my  unfortunate  client,  who  has 
sacrificed  his  fortune,  his  hopes,  his  connections,  his  country, 


212  SIR    JAMES    MACKINTOSH 

to  his  conscience;  who  seems  marked  out  for  destruction  in 
this  his  last  asylum. 

That  he  still  enjoys  the  security  of  tliis  asylum,  that  he 
has  not  been  sacrificed  to  the  resentment  of  his  powerful  ene- 
mies, is  perhaps  owing  to  the  firmness  of  the  king's  govern- 
ment. If  that  be  the  fact,  gentlemen;  if  his  Majesty's  min- 
isters have  resisted  applications  to  expel  this  unfortunate  gen- 
tleman from  England,  I  should  publicly  thank  them  for  their 
firmness  if  it  were  not  unseemly  and  improper  to  suppose 
that  they  could  have  acted  otherwise  —  to  thank  an  English 
government  for  not  violating  the  most  sacred  duties  of 
hospitality;  for  not  bringing  indelible  disgrace  on  their 
countrv. 

But  be  that  as  it  may,  gentlemen,  he  now  comes  before  you 
perfectly  satisfied  that  an  English  jury  is  the  most  refreshing 
prospect  that  the  eye  of  accused  innocence  ever  met  in  a 
human  tribunal;  and  he  feels  with  me  the  most  fervent  grati- 
tude to  the  Protector  of  empires  that,  surrounded  as  we  are 
with  the  ruins  of  principalities  and  powers,  we  still  continue 
to  meet  together,  after  the  manner  of  our  fathers,  to  admin- 
ister justice  in  this  her  ancient  sanctuary. 

There  is  another  point  of  view  in  which  this  case  seems  to 
me  to  merit  your  most  serious  attention.  I  consider  it  as  the 
first  of  a  long  series  of  conflicts  between  the  greatest  power 
in  the  world  and  the  only  free  press  remaining  in  Europe. 
No  man  living  is  more  thoroughly  convinced  than  I  am  that 
my  learned  friend,  Mr.  Attorney  General,  will  never  degrade 
his  excellent  character;  that  he  will  never  disgrace  his  high 
magistracy  by  mean  compliances,  by  an  immoderate  and 
unconscientious  exercise  of  power;  yet  1  am  convinced,  by  cir- 
cumstances, which  I  shall  now  abstain  from  discussing,  that 
I  am  to  consider  this  as  the  first  of  a  long  series  of  conflicts 


ON    THE    TRIAL    OP    JEAN    PELTIER  213 

between  the  greatest  power  in  the  world  and  the  only  free 
press  now  remaining  in  Europe. 

Gentlemen,  this  distinction  of  the  English  press  is  new; 
it  is  a  proud  and  melancholy  distinction.  Before  the  great 
earthquake  of  the  French  Revolution  had  swallowed  up  all 
the  asylums  of  free  discussion  on  the  Continent,  we  enjoyed 
that  privilege  indeed  more  fully  than  others;  but  we  did  not 
enjoy  it  exclusively.  In  great  monarchies  the  press  has 
always  been  considered  as  too  formidable  an  engine  to  be 
entrusted  to  unlicensed  individuals. 

But  in  other  continental  countries,  either  by  the  laws  of 
the  state  or  by  long  habits  of  liberality  and  toleration  in 
magistrates,  a  liberty  of  discussion  has  been  enjoyed  perhaps 
sufficient  for  most  useful  purposes.  It  existed,  in  fact,  where 
it  was  not  protected  by  law;  and  the  wise  and  generous  con- 
nivance of  governments  was  daily  more  and  more  secured  by 
the  growing  civilization  of  their  subjects.  In  Holland,  in 
Switzerland,  in  the  imperial  towns  of  Germany,  the  press  was 
either  legally  or  practically  free.  Holland  and  Switzerland 
are  no  more ;  and  since  the  commencement  of  this  prosecution 
fifty  imperial  towns  have  been  erased  from  the  list  of  inde- 
pendent states  by  one  dash  of  the  pen.  Three  or  four  still 
preserve  a  precarious  and  trembling  existence.  I  will  not  say 
by  what  compliances  they  must  purchase  its  continuance.  I 
will  not  insult  the  feebleness  of  states  whose  unmerited  fall 
I  do  most  bitterly  deplore. 

These  governments  were  in  many  respects  one  of  the  most 
interesting  parts  of  the  ancient  system  of  Europe.  Unfortu- 
nately for  the  repose  of  mankind,  great  states  are  compelled, 
by  regard  to  their  own  safety,  to  consider  the  military  spirit 
and  martial  habits  of  their  people  as  one  of  the  main  objects 
of  their  policy.     Frequent  hostilities  seem  almost  the  neces- 


214  SIR    JAMES    MACKINTOSH 

sary  condition  of  their  greatness;  and  without  being  great 
they  cannot  long  remain  safe.  Smaller  states,  exempted 
from  this  cruel  necessity  —  a  hard  condition  of  greatness,  a 
bitter  satire  on  human  nature  —  devoted  themselves  to  the 
arts  of  peace,  to  the  cultivation  of  literature,  and  the  improve- 
ment of  reason.  They  became  places  of  refuge  for  free  and 
fearless  discussion;  they  were  the  impartial  spectators  and 
judges  of  the  various  contests  of  ambition  which  from  time  to 
time  disturbed  the  quiet  of  the  world. 

They  thu.*  became  peculiarly  qualified  to  be  the  organs  of 
that  public  opinion  which  converted  Europe  into  a  great 
republic  with  laws  which  mitigated  though  they  could  not 
extinguish  ambition,  and  with  moral  tribunals  to  which  even 
the  most  despotic  sovereigns  were  amenable.  If  wars  of 
aggrandizement  were  undertaken,  their  authors  were  arraigned 
in  the  face  of  Europe. 

If  acts  of  internal  tyranny  were  perpetrated,  they  resounded 
from  a  thousand  presses  throughout  all  civilized  countries. 
Princes  on  whose  will  there  were  no. legal  checks  thus  found 
a  moral  restraint  which  the  most  powerful  of  them  could  not 
brave  with  absolute  impunity.  They  acted  before  a  vast 
audience  to  whose  applause  or  condemnation  they  could  not 
be  utterly  indifferent.  The  very  constitution  of  human 
nature,  the  unalterable  laws  of  the  mind  of  man,  against  which 
all  rebellion  is  fruitless,  subjected  the  proudest  tyrants  to  this 
control.  No  elevation  of  ix)wer,  no  depravity  however  con- 
summate, no  innocence  however  spotless,  can  render  man 
wholly  independent  of  the  praise  or  blame  of  his  fellow  men. 

These  governments  were  in  other  respects  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  and  interesting  parts  of  our  ancient  system.  The 
perfect  security  of  such  inconsiderable  and  feeble  states,  their 
undisturbed  tranquillity  amid  the  wars  and  conquests  that  sur- 


ON    THE    TRIAL    OF    JEAN    PELTIER  215 

rounded  them,  attested,  beyond  any  other  part  of  the  Euro- 
pean system,  the  moderation,  the  justice,  the  civilization  to 
which  Christian  Europe  had  reached  in  modern  times, 

•Their  weakness  was  protected  only  by  the  habitual  rever- 
ence for  justice  which  during  a  long  series  of  ages  had  grown 
up  in  Christendom.  This  was  the  only  fortification  which 
defended  them  against  those  mighty  monarchs  to  whom  they 
offered  so  easy  a  prey.  And  till  the  French  Revolution  this 
was  sufficient. 

Consider,  for  instance,  the  situation  of  the  Republic  of 
Geneva.  Think  of  her  defenceless  position,  in  the  very  jaws 
of  France;  but  think  also  of  her  undisturbed  security,  of  her 
profound  quiet,  of  the  brilliant  success  with  which  she  applied 
to  industry  and  literature  while  Louis  XIY  was  pouring  his 
myriads  into  Italy  before  her  gates.  Call  to  mind,  if  ages 
crowded  into  years  have  not  effaced  them  from  your  memory, 
that  happy  period  when  we  scarcely  dreamed  more  of  the 
subjugation  of  the  feeblest  republic  of  Europe  than  of  the 
conquest  of  her  mightiest  empire;  and  tell  me  if  you  can 
imagine  a  spectacle  more  beautiful  to  the  moral  eye,  or  a  more 
striking  proof  of  progress  in  the  noblest  principles  of  true 
civilization. 

These  feeble  states  —  these  monuments  of  the  justice  of 
Europe  —  the  asylum  of  peace,  of  industry,  and  of  literature 
—  the  organs  of  public  reason  —  the  refuge  of  oppressed  inno- 
cence and  persecuted  truth,  have  perished  with  those  ancient 
principles  which  were  their  sole  guardians  and  protectors. 
They  have  been  swallowed  up  by  that  fearful  convulsion 
which  has  shaken  the  uttermost  corners  of  the  earth.  They 
are  destroyed  and  gone  forever. 

One  asylum  of  free  discussion  is  still  inviolate.  There  is 
still  one  spot  in  Europe  where  man  can  freely  exercise  his 


216  SIR    JAMES    MACKINTOSH 

reason  on  tlie  most  important  concerns  of  society,  where  he 
can  boldly  publish  his  judgment  on  the  acts  of  the  proudest 
and  most  powerful  tyrants.  The  press  of  England  is  still 
free.  It  is  guarded  by  the  free  constitution  of  our  fore- 
fathers. It  is  guarded  by  the  hearts  and  arms  of  Englishmen, 
and  I  trust  I  may  venture  to  say  that  if  it  be  to  fall  it  will 
fall  only  under  the  ruins  of  the  British  empire. 

It  is  an  a^vful  consideration,  gentlemen.  Every  other 
monument  of  European  liberty  has  perished.  That  ancient 
fabric  which  has  been  gradually  reared  by  the  wisdom  and 
virtue  of  our  fathers  still  stands.  It  stands,  thanks  be  to 
God!  solid  and  entire;  but  it  stands  alone,  and  it  stands  amid 
ruins. 

In  these  extraordinary  circumstances  I  repeat  that  I  must 
consider  this  as  the  first  of  a  long  series  of  conflicts  between 
the  greatest  power  in  the  world  and  the  only  free  press  remain- 
ing in  Europe.  And  I  trust  that  you  mil  consider  yourselves 
as  the  advanced  guard  of  liberty,  as  having  this  day  to  fight 
the  first  battle  of  free  discussion  against  the  most  formidable 
enemy  that  it  ever  encountered.  You  will  therefore  excuse 
me  if,  on  so  important  an  occasion,  I  remind  you,  at  more 
length  than  is  usual,  of  those  general  principles  of  law  and 
policy  on  this  subject  which  have  been  handed  down  to  us  by 
our  ancestors. 

Those  who  slowly  built  up  the  fabric  of  our  laws  never 
attempted  anything  so  absurd  as  to  define,  by  any  precise  rule, 
the  obscure  and  shifting  boundaries  which  divide  libel  from 
history  or  discussion.  It  is  a  subject  which,  from  its  nature, 
admits  neither  rules  nor  definitions.  The  same  words  may 
be  perfectly  innocent  in  one  case  and  most  mischievous  and 
libellous  in  another.  A  change  of  circumstances,  often  appar- 
ently slight,  is  sufficient  to  make  the  whole  difference. 


ON    THE    TRIAL    OF    JEAN    PELTIER  217 

These  changes,  which  may  be  as  niimerons  as  the  variety 
of  human  intentions  and  conditions,  can  never  be  foreseen  nor 
comprehended  under  any  legal  definitions,  and  the  framers  of 
our  law  have  never  attempted  to  subject  them  to  such  defini- 
tions. They  left  such  ridiculous  attempts  to  those  who  call 
themselves  philosophers,  but  who  have,  in  fact,  proved  them- 
selves most  grossly  and  stupidly  ignorant  of  that  philosophy 
which  is  conversant  with  human  aft'airs. 

The  principles  of  the  law  of  England  on  the  subject  of 
political  libel  are  few  and  simple,  and  they  are  necessarily 
so  broad  that  without  an  habitually  mild  administration 
of  justice  they  might  encroach  materially  on  the  liberty  of 
political  discussion.  Every  publication  which  is  intended  to 
vilify  either  our  own  government  or  the  government  of  any 
foreign  state  in  amity  with  this  kingdom  is,  by  the  law  of 
England,  a  libel.  To  protect  political  discussion  from  the 
danger  to  which  it  would  be  exposed  by  these  wide  principles, 
if  they  were  severely  and  literally  enforced,  our  ancestors 
trusted  to  various  securities — some  growing  out  of  the  law 
and  constitution,  and  others  arising  from  the  character  of  those 
public  officers  whom  the  constitution  had  formed,  and  to  whom 
its  administration  is  committed. 

They  trusted,  in  the  first  place,  to  the  moderation  of  the 
legal  officers  of  the  Crown,  educated  in  the  maxims  and 
imbued  with  the  spirit  of  a  free  government,  controlled  by 
the  superintending  power  of  Parliament,  and  peculiarly 
watched  in  all  political  prosecutions  by  the  reasonable  and 
wholesome  jealousy  of  their  fellow  subjects.  And  I  am 
bound  to  admit  that,  since  the  glorious  era  of  the  revolution 
[1688],  making  due  allowance  for  the  frailities,  the  faults, 
and  the  occasional  vices  of  men,  they  have,  upon  the  whole, 
not  been  disappointed. 


'JIS  SIR    JAMES    MACKINTOSH 

I  know  that  in  the  hands  of  mv  learned  friend  that  trust 
will  never  be  abused.  But,  above  all,  they  confided  in  the 
moderation  and  good  sense  of  juries,  popular  in  their  origin, 
popular  in  their  feelings,  popular  in  their  very  prejudices, 
taken  from  the  mass  of  the  people,  and  immediately  returning 
to  that  mass  again.  By  these  checks  and  temperaments  they 
hoped  that  they  should  sufficiently  repress  malignant  libels 
without  endangering  that  freedom  of  inquiry  w'hich  is  the 
first  security  of  a  free  state. 

They  knew  that  the  offence  of  a  political  libel  is  of  a  very 
peculiar  nature  and  differing  in  the  most  important  par- 
ticulars from  all  other  crimes.  In  all  other  cases  the  most 
severe  execution  of  law  can  only  spread  terror  among  the 
guilty;  but  in  political  libels  it  inspires  even  the  innocent 
with  fear.  This  striking  peculiarity  arises  from  the  same 
circumstances  which  make  it  impossible  to  define  the  limits 
of  libel  and  innocent  discussion;  which  make  it  impossible 
for  a  man  of  the  purest  and  most  honorable  mind  to  be  always 
perfectly  certain  whether  he  be  within  the  territory  of  fair 
argument  and  honest  narrative,  or  whether  he  may  not  have 
unwittingly  overstepped  the  faint  and  varying  line  which 
bounds  them. 

But,  gentlemen,  1  will  go  further.  This  is  the  only  offence 
where  severe  and  frequent  punishments  not  only  intimidate 
the  innocent,  but  deter  men  from  the  most  meritorious  acts 
and  from  rendering  the  most  important  services  to  their  coun- 
try. They  indispose  and  disqualify  men  for  the  discharge  of 
the  most  sacred  duties  which  they  owe  to  mankind.  To  inform 
the  public  on  the  conduct  of  those  who  administer  public 
affairs  requires  courage  and  conscious  security.  It  is  always 
an  invidious  and  obnoxious  office;  but  it  is  often  the  most 
necessary  of  all  public  duties.     If  it  is  not  done  boldly    it 


ON   THE   TRIAL    OP    JEAN    PELTIER  219 

cannot  be  done  effectually,  and  it  is  not  from  writers  trembling 
under  the  uplifted  scourge  that  we  are  to  hope  for  it. 

There  are  other  matters,  gentlemen,  to  which  I  am  desirous 
of  particularly  calling  your  attention.  These  are  the  cir- 
cumstances in  the  condition  of  this  country  which  have 
induced  our  ancestors,  at  all  times,  to  handle  with  more  than 
ordinary  tenderness  that  branch  of  the  liberty  of  discussion 
which  is  applied  to  the  conduct  of  foreign  states.  The  rela- 
tion of  this  kingdom  to  the  commonwealth  of  Europe  is  so 
peculiar  that  no  history,  I  think,  furnishes  a  parallel  to  it. 

From  the  moment  in  which  we  abandoned  all  projects  of 
Continental  aggrandizement  we  could  have  no  interest  re- 
specting the  state  of  the  Continent  but  the  interests  of 
national  safety  and  of  commercial  prosperity.  The  para- 
mount interest  of  every  state — that  which  comprehends  every 
other — is  security.  And  the  security  of  Great  Britain  re- 
quires nothing  on  the  Continent  but  the  uniform  observance 
of  justice.  It  requires  nothing  but  the  inviolability  of  ancient 
boundaries  and  the  sacredness  of  ancient  possessions,  which, 
on  these  subjects,  is  but  another  form  of  words  for  justice. 
A  nation  which  is  herself  shut  out  from  the  possibility  of 
Continental  aggrandizement  can  have  no  interest  but  that  of 
preventing  such  aggrandizement  in  others.  We  can  have  no 
interest  of  safety  but  the  preventing  of  those  encroachments 
which,  by  their  immediate  effects  or  by  their  example,  may 
be  dangerous  to  ourselves.  We  can  have  no  interest  or  am- 
bition respecting  the  Continent.  So  that  neither  our  real 
nor  even  our  apparent  interest  can  ever  be  at  variance  with 
justice. 

As  to  commercial  prosperity,  it  is  indeed  a  secondary,  but 
it  is  still  a  very  important  branch  of  our  national  interests,  and 
it  requires  nothing  on  the  continent  of  Europe  but  the  main- 


220  SIR    JAMES    MACKINTOSH 

tenance  of  peace  as  far  as  the  paramount  interest  of  seeiiritv 
will  allow. 

Whatever  ignorant  or  prejudiced  men  may  affirm,  no  war 
was  ever  gainful  to  a  commercial  nation.  Losses  may  be  less 
in  some,  and  incidental  profits  may  arise  in  others.  But  no 
such  profits  ever  formed  an  adequate  compensation  for  the 
waste  of  capital  and  industry  which  all  wars  must  produce. 
Kext  to  peace,  our  commercial  greatness  depends  chiefly  on 
the  affluence  and  prosperity  of  our  neighbors.  A  commercial 
nation  has,  indeed,  the  same  interest  in  the  wealth  of  her 
neighbors  that  a  tradesman  has  in  the  wealth  of  his  cus- 
tomers. 

The  prosperity  of  England  has  been  chiefly  owing  to  the 
general  progi'ess  of  civilized  nations  in  the  arts  and  improve- 
ments of  social  life.  Not  an  acre  of  land  has  been  brought 
into  cultivation  in  the  wilds  of  Siberia  or  on  the  shores  of  the 
Mississippi  which  has  not  widened  tthe  market  for  English 
industry.  It  is  nourished  by  the  progressive  prosperity  of  the 
world,  and  it  amply  repays  all  that  it  has  received.  It  can 
only  be  employed  in  spreading  civilization  and  enjoyment 
over  the  earth;  and  by  the  unchangeable  laws  of  nature,  in 
spite  of  the  impotent  tricks  of  government,  it  is  now  partly 
applied  to  revive  the  industry  of  those  very  nations  who  are 
the  loudest  in  their  senseless  clamors  against  its  pretended  mis- 
chiefs. If  the  blind  and  barbarous  project  of  destroying  Eng- 
lish prosperity  could  be  accomplished,  it  could  have  no 
other  effect  than  that  of  completely  beggaring  the  very 
countries  who  now  stupidly  ascribe  their  own  poverty  to 
our  wealth. 

Under  these  circumstances,  gentlemen,  it  became  the 
obvious  policy  of  the  kingdom,  a  policy  in  unison  with  the 
maxims  of  a  free  government,  to  consider  with  great  indul- 


ON  THE  TRIAL  OF  JEAN  PELTIER  £21 

gence  even  the  boldest  animadversions  of  our  political  writers 
on  the  ambitious  projects  of  foreign  states. 

Bold,  and  sometimes  indiscreet  as  these  animadversions 
might  be,  they  had  at  least  the  effect  of  warning  the  people 
of  their  danger,  and  of  rousing  the  national  indignation 
against  those  encroachments  wliich  England  has  almost  always 
been  compelled  in  the  end  to  resist  by  arms.  Seldom,  indeed, 
has  she  been  allow^ed  to  wait  till  a  provident  regard  to  her 
own  safety  should  compel  her  to  take  up  arms  in  defence 
of  others.  For  as  it  was  said  by  a  great  orator  of  antiquity 
that  no  man  ever  was  the  enemy  of  the  republic  who  had 
not  first  declared  war  against  him,  so  I  may  say  with  truth 
that  no  man  ever  meditated  the  subjugation  of  Europe  who 
did  not  consider  the  destruction  or  the  corruption  of  England 
as  the  first  condition  of  his  success. 

If  you  examine  history  you  wall  find  that  no  such  project 
was  ever  formed  in  which  it  was  not  deemed  a  necessary  pre- 
liminary either  to  detach  England  from  the  common  cause 
or  to  destroy  her.  It  seems  as  if  all  the  conspirators  against 
the  independence  of  nations  might  have  sufficiently  taught 
other  states  that  England  is  their  natural  guardian  and  pro- 
tector; that  she  alone  has  no  interest  but  their  preservation; 
that  her  safety  is  interwoven  with  their  own. 

When  vast  projects  of  aggrandizement  are  manifested, 
when  schemes  of  criminal  ambition  are  carried  into  effect,  the 
day  of  battle  is  fast  approaching  for  England.  Her  free 
government  cannot  engage  in  dangerous  wars  without  the 
hearty  and  affectionate  support  of  her  people.  A  state  thus 
situated  cannot  without  the  utmost  peril  silence  those  public 
discussions  which  are  to  point  the  popular  indignation  against 
those  who  must  soon  be  enemies.  In  domestic  dissensions  it 
may  sometimes  be  the  supposed  interest  of  government  to 


222  SIK    JAMES    MACKINTOSH 

overawe  the  press.  But  it  never  can  be  even  their  apparent 
interest  when  the  danger  is  purely  foreign. 

A  king  of  England  who  in  snch  circumstances  should  con- 
spire against  the  free  press  of  this  country  would  undermine 
the  foundations  of  his  own  throne;  he  would  silence  the 
trumpet  which  is  to  call  his  people  round  his  standard. 

Our  ancestors  never  thought  it  their  policy  to  avert  the 
resentment  of  foreign  tyrants  by  enjoining  English  writers 
to  contain  and  repress  their  just  abhorrence  of  the  criminal 
enterprises  of  ambition.  This  great  and  gallant  nation,  which 
has  fought  in  the  front  of  every  battle  against  the  oppressors 
of  Europe,  has  sometimes  inspired  fear,  but,  thank  God,  she 
has  never  felt  it.  We  know  that  they  are  our  real,  and  must 
soon  become  our  declared  foes.  AVe  know  that  there  can  be 
no  cordial  amity  between  the  natural  enemies  and  the  inde- 
pendence of  nations.  AVc  have  never  adopted  the  cowardly 
and  short-sighted  policy  of  silencing  our  press,  of  breaking 
the  spirit  and  palsying  the  hearts  of  our  people,  for  the  sake 
of  a  hollow  and  precarious  truce.  We  have  never  been  base 
enough  to  purchase  a  short  respite  from  hostilities  by  sacri- 
ficing the  first  means  of  defence, — the  means  of  rousing  the 
public  spirit  of  the  people  and  directing  it  against  the  enemies 
of  their  country  and  of  Europe. 

Gentlemen,  the  public  spirit  of  a  people,  by  which  I  mean 
the  whole  body  of  those  affections  which  unite  men's  hearts 
to  the  commonwealth,  is  in  various  countries  composed  of 
various  elements  and  depends  on  a  great  variety  of  causes. 
In  this  country  I  may  venture  to  say  that  it  mainly  depends 
on  the  vigor  of  the  popular  parts  and  principles  of  our  govern- 
ment, and  that  the  spirit  of  liberty  is  one  of  its  most  important 
elements.  Perhaps  it  may  depend  less  on  those  advantages 
of  a  free  government    which  are  most  highly  estimated  by 


ON  THE  TRIAL  OF  JEAN  PELTIER  223 

calm  reason  than  upon  those  parts  of  it  which  delight  the 
imagination  and  flatter  the  just  and  natural  pride  of  man- 
kind. 

Among  these  we  are  certainly  not  to  forget  the  political 
rights  which  are  not  uniformly  withheld  from  the  lowest 
classes,  and  the  continual  appeal  made  to  them  in  public 
discussion  upon  the  greatest  interests  of  the  state.  These 
are  undoubtedly  among  the  circumstances  which  endear  to 
Englishmen  their  government  and  their  country,  and  animate 
their  zeal  for  that  glorious  institution  which  confers  on  the 
meanest  of  them  a  sort  of  distinction  and  nobility  unknown  to 
the  most  illustrious  slaves  who  tremble  at  the  frown  of  a 
tyrant. 

Whoever  were  unwarily  and  rashly  to  abolish  or  narrow 
these  privileges,  which  it  must  be  owned  are  liable  to  great 
abuse  and  to  very  specious  objections,  might  perhaps  discover 
too  late  that  he  had  been  dismantling  his  country.  Of  what- 
ever elements  public  spirit  is  composed,  it  is  always  and  every- 
where the  chief  defensive  principle  of  a  State.  It  is  perfectly 
distinct  from  courage.  Perhaps  no  nation,  certainly  no  Euro- 
pean nation,  ever  perished  from  an  inferiority  of  courage. 
And  undoubtedly  no  considerable  nation  was  ever  subdued  in 
which  the  public  affections  were  sound  and  vigorous.  It  is 
public  spirit  which  binds  together  the  dispersed  courage  of 
individuals  and  fastens  it  to  the  commonwealth. 

It  is,  therefore,  as  I  have  said,  the  chief  defensive  principle 
of  every  country.  Of  all  the  stimulants  which  arouse  it  into 
action,  the  most  powerful  among  us  is  certainly  the  press;  and 
it  cannot  be  restrained  or  weakened  without  imminent  danger 
that  the  national  spirit  may  languish,  and  that  the  people 
may  act  with  less  zeal  and  affection  for  their  country  in  the 
hour  of  its  danger. 


224  SIR    JAMES    MACKINTOSH 

These  principles,  gentlemen,  are  not  new  —  they  are  genu- 
ine old  English  principles.  And  though  in  our  days  they 
have  been  disgraced  and  abused  by  ruffians  and  fanatics,  they 
are  in  themselves  as  just  and  sound  as  they  are  liberal;  and 
they  are  the  only  principles  on  which  a  free  state  can  be 
safely  governed.  These  principles  I  have  adopted  since  I 
first  learned  the  use  of  reason,  and  I  think  I  shall  abandon 
them  only  with  life. 

On  these  principles  I  am  now  to  call  your  attention  to  the 
libel  with  which  this  unfortunate  gentleman  is  charged.  T 
heartily  rejoice  that  I  concur  with  the  greatest  part  of  what 
has  been  said  by  my  learned  friend,  Mr.  Attorney  General, 
who  has  done  honor  even  to  his  character  by  the  generous 
and  liberal  principles  which  he  has  laid  down.  He  has  told 
you  that  he  does  not  mean  to  attack  historical  narrative.  He 
has  told  you  that  he  does  not  mean  to  attack  political  discus- 
sion He  has  told  you,  also,  that  he  does  not  consider  every 
intemperate  word  into  which  a  writer,  fairly  engaged  in  nar- 
ration or  reasoning,  might  be  betrayed,  as  a  fit  subject  for 
prosecution. 

The  essence  of  the  crime  of  libel  consists  in  the  malignant 
mind  Avhich  the  publication  proves  and  from  which  it  flows. 
A  jury  must  be  convinced,  before  they  find  a  man  guilty  of 
libel,  that  his  intention  was  to  libel,  not  to  state  facts  which 
he  believed  to  be  true,  or  reasonings  which  he  thought  just. 
My  learned  friend  has  told  you  that  the  liberty  of  history 
includes  the  right  of  publishing  those  observations  which 
occur  to  intelligent  men  when  they  consider  the  affairs  of  the 
world;  and  I  tliink  he  will  not  deny  that  it  includes  also  the 
right  of  expressing  those  sentiments  which  all  good  men  feel 
on  the  contemplation  of  extraordinary  examples  of  depravity 
or  excellence. 


ON    THE    TRIAL    OF    JEAN    PELTIER  225 

One  more  privilege  of  the  historian,  which  the  Attorney 
General  has  not  named,  but  to  which  his  principles  extend, 
it  is  now  my  duty  to  claim  on  behalf  of  my  client;  I  mean 
the  right  of  republishing,  historically,  those  documents,  what- 
ever their  original  malignity  may  be,  which  display  the  char- 
acter and  unfold  the  intentions  of  governments,  or  factions,  or 
individuals. 

X  think  my  learned  friend  will  not  deny  that  a  historical 
compiler  may  innocently  republish  in  England  the  most  inso- 
lent and  outrageous  declaration  of  war  ever  published  against 
his  Majesty  by  a  foreign  govemmenv.  The  intention  of  the 
original  author  was  to  vilify  and  degrade  his  Majesty's  gov- 
ernment; but  the  intention  of  the  compiler  is  only  to  gratify 
curiosity,  or,  perhaps,  to  rouse  just  indignation  against  the 
calumniator  whose  production  he  republishes.  His  inten- 
tion is  not  libellous — his  republication  is  therefore  not  a 
libel.  Suppose  this  to  be  the  case  with  Mr.  Peltier.  Su}> 
pose  him  to  have  republished  libels  with  a  merely  historical 
intention.  In  that  case  it  cannot  be  pretended  that  he  is 
more  a  libeller  than  my  learned  friend,  Mr.  Abbott,  who  read 
these  supposed  libels  to  you  when  he  opened  the  pleadings. 
Mr.  Abbott  republished  them  to  you,  that  you  might  know 
and  judge  of  them:  Mr.  Peltier,  on  the  supposition  I  have 
made,  also  republished  them,  that  the  public  might  know  and 
judge  of  them. 

You  already  know  that  the  general  plan  of  Mr.  Peltier's 
publication  was  to  give  a  picture  of  the  cabals  and  intrigues, 
of  the  hopes  and  projects  of  French  factions.  It  is  undoubt- 
edly a  natural  and  necessary  part  of  this  plan  to  republish  all 
the  serious  and  ludicrous  pieces  which  these  factions  circulate 
against  each  other.  The  ode  ascribed  to  Chenier  or  Ginguene 
I  do  really  believe  to  have  been  written  at  Paris,  to  have  been 

Vol.  4— 15 


226  SIR    JAMES    MACKINTOSH 

circulated  there,  to  have  been  there  attributed  to  some  one 
of  these  writers,  to  have  been  sent  to  England  as  their  work, 
and  as  such  to  have  been  republislied  by  Mr.  Peltier.  But 
T  am  iK)t  sure  that  I  have  evidence  to  convince  you  of  the 
truth  of  this.  Suppose  that  I  have  not;  will  my  learned 
friend  say  that  my  client  must  necessarily  be  convicted?  I, 
on  the  contrary,  contend  that  it  is  for  my  learned  friend  to 
show  that  it  is  not  a  historical  republication.  Such  it  pro- 
fesses to  be,  and  that  profession  it  is  for  him  to  disprove.  The 
profession  may  indeed  be  "  a  mask;  "  but  it  is  for  my  friend 
to  pluck  off  the  mask  and  expose  the  libeller  before  he  calls 
upon  you  for  a  verdict  of  guilty. 

If  the  general  lawfulness  of  such  republications  be  denied, 
then  I  must  ask  Mr.  Attorney  General  to  account  for  the  long 
impunity  which  English  newspapers  have  enjoyed.  I  must 
request  him  to  tell  you  why  they  have  been  suffered  to  repub- 
lish all  the  atrocious  official  and  unofficial  libels  which  have 
beon  published  against  his  Majesty  for  the  last  ten  years  by 
the  Brissots,  the  jMarats,  the  Dantons,  the  Kobespierres,  the 
Barreres,  tlio  Talliens,  the  Reubells,  the  Merlins,  the  Bar- 
rases,  >and  all  that  long  line  of  bloody  tyrants  who  oppressed 
their  own  country  aiid  insulted  every  other  which  they  had 
not  the  power  to  rob. 

What  must  be  the  answer? 

That  the  English  publishers  were  either  innocent,  if  their 
motive  was  to  gratify  curiosity;  or  praiseworthy,  if  their  inten- 
tion was  to  rouse  indignation  against  the  calumniators  of  their 
country.  If  any  other  answer  be  made,  I  must  remind  my 
friend  of  a  most  sacred  part  of  his  duty  —  the  duty  of  protect- 
ing the  honest  fame  of  those  who  are  absent  in  the  service  of 
their  country. 

Within  these  few  days  we  have  seen,  in  every  nev/spapei* 


ON    THE    TRIAL    OF    JEAN    PELTIER  227 

in  England,  a  publication,  called  the  Report  of  Colonel 
Sebastiani,  in  which,  a  gallant  British  officer  [General  Stuaxt] 
is  charged  with  writing  letters  to  procure  assassination.  The 
publishers  of  that  infamous  report  are  not  and  will  not  be 
prosecuted,  because  their  intention  is  not  to  libel  General 
Stuart. 

On  any  other  principle,  why  have  all  our  newspapers  been 
suffered  to  circulate  that  most  atrocious  of  all  libels  against 
the  king  and  people  of  England,  which  purports  to  be  trans- 
lated from  the  "Moniteur"  of  the  9th  of  August,  1802,— a 
libel  agsinst  a  prince  who  has  passed  through  a  factious  and 
stormy  reign  of  forty-three  years  without  a  single  imputa- 
tion on  his  personal  character;  against  a  people  who  have 
passed  through  the  severest  trials  of  national  virtue  with 
unimpaired  glory  —  who  alone  in  the  world  can  boast  of 
mutinies  without  murder,  of  triumphant  mobs  without  mas- 
sacre, of  bloodless  revolutions,  and  of  civil  wars  unstained 
by  a  single  assassination. 

That  most  impudent  and  malignant  libel  which  charges 
such  a  king  of  such  a  people,  not  only  with  having  hired 
assassins,  but  with  being  so  shameless,  so  lost  to  all  sense  of 
character,  as  to  have  bestowed  on  these  assassins,  if  their  mur- 
derous projects  had  succeeded,  the  highest  badges  of  public 
honor,  the  rewards  reserved  for  statesmen  and  heroes, — the 
order  of  the  Garter:  the  order  which  was  founded  by  the 
keroes  of  Cl'essy  and  Poitiers;  the  garter  which  was  worn 
by  Henry  the  Great  and  Gustavus  Adolphus;  which  might 
now  be  worn  by  the  hero  who,  on  the  shores  of  Syria  [Sir 
Sydney  Smith]  —  the  ancient  theatre  of  English  chivalry  — 
has  revived  the  renown  of  English  valor  and  of  English 
humanity, — that  unsullied  garter  which  a  detestable  libeller 
dares  to  say  is  to  be  paid  as  the  price  of  murder.  .  .  . 


228  SIR    .TA^tES     MACKINTOSH 

I  am  aware,  gentlemen,  that  I  have  already  abused  your 
indulgence,  but  1  must  entreat  vou  to  bear  with  me  for  a 
short  time  longer,  to  allow  me  to  suppose  a  case  which  might 
have  occurred,  in  which  you  will  see  the  horrible  consequences 
of  enforcing  rigorously  principles  of  law,  which  I  cannot 
counteract,  against  political  writers.  We  might  have  been 
at  peace  with  France  during  the  whole  of  that  terrible  period 
which  elapsed  between  August,  1792  and  1794,  which  has 
been  usually  called  the  reign  of  Robespierre, — the  only  series 
of  crimes,  perhaps,  in  history,  which,  in  spite  of  the  common 
disposition  to  exaggerate  extraordinary  facts,  has  been  beyond 
measure  underrated  in  public  opinion. 

I  say  this,  gentlemen,  after  an  investigation  which  I  think 
entitles  me  to  affinn  it  with  confidence.  Men's  minds  were 
oppressed  by  atrocity  and  the  multitude  of  crimes;  their 
humanity  and  their  indolence  took  refuge  in  scepticism  from 
such  an  ovenvhelming  mass  of  guilt;  and  the  consequence 
was  that  all  these  unparalleled  enormities,  though  proved  not 
only  with  the  fullest  historical  but  with  the  strictest  judicial 
evidence,  were  at  the  time  only  half  believed  and  are  now 
scarcely  half  remembered. 

When  these  atrocities  were  daily  perpetrating,  of  which  the 
greatest  part  are  as  little  known  to  the  public  in  general  as 
the  campaigns  of  Genghis  Khan,  but  are  still  protected  from 
the  scrutiny  of  men  by  the  immensity  of  those  voluminous 
records  of  guilt  in  which  they  are  related,  and  under  the  mass 
of  which  they  will  be  buried  till  some  historian  be  found  with 
patience  and  courage  enough  to  drag  them  forth  into  light, 
for  the  shame,  indeed,  but  for  the  instruction  of  mankind  — 
when  these  ciimes  were  perpetrating,  which  had  the  peculiar 
malignity,  from  the  pretexts  vnih.  which  they  were  covered, 
of  making  the  noblest  objects  of  human  pursuit  seem  odious 


ON    THE   TRIAL    OP   JEAN    PELTIER  229 

and  detestable;  which  has  almost  made  the  names  of  liberty, 
reformation,  and  humanity  synonymous  with  anarchy,  rob- 
bery, and  murder;  which  thus  threatened  not  only  to  extin- 
guish every  principle  of  improvement,  to  aiTest  the  pro'gress  of 
civilized  society,  and  to  disinherit  future  generations  of  that 
rich  succession  which  they  were  entitled  to  expect  from  the 
knowledge  and  wisdom  of  the  present,  but  to  destroy  the  civili- 
zation of  Europe,  which  never  gave  such  a  proof  of  its  vigor 
and  robustness  as  in  being  able  to  resist  their  destructive  power 
—  when  all  these  horrors  were  acting  in  the  gi'eatest  empire 
of  the  continent,  I  will  ask  my  learned  friend,  if  we  had  then 
been  at  peace  with  France,  how  English  writers  were  to  relate 
them  so  as  to  escape  the  charge  of  libelling  a  friendly 
government. 

When  Robespierre,  in  the  debates  in  the  ISrational  Conven- 
tion on  the  mode  of  murdering  their  blameless  sovereign, 
objected  to  the  formal  and  tedious  mode  of  murder  called  a 
trial,  and  proposed  to  put  him  immediately  to  death,  "  on  the 
principles  of  insurrection,"  because  to  doubt  the  guilt  of  the 
king  would  be  to  doubt  the  imiocence  of  the  Convention; 
and  if  the  king  were  not  a  traitor,  the  Convention  must  be 
rebels;  would  my  learned  friend  have  had  an  English  writer 
state  all  this  with  "decorum  and  moderation?"  Would  he 
have  had  an  English  writer  state  that  though  this  reasoning 
was  not  perfectly  agreeable  to  our  national  laws,  or  perhaps 
to  our  national  prejudices,  yet  it  was  not  for  him  to  make  any 
observations  on  the  judicial  proceedings  of  foreign  states? 

When  Marat,  in  the  same  Convention,  called  for  two  hun- 
dred and  seventy  thousand  heads,  must  our  English  writers 
have  said  that  the  remedy  did  indeed  seem  to  their  weak 
judgment  rather  severe ;  but  that  it  was  not  for  them  to  judge 
the  conduct  of  so  illustrious  an  assembly  as  the  IvTational  Con- 


230  SIR    JAMES    MACKINTOSH 

vention,  or  the  suggestions  of  so  enlightened  a  statesman  as 
M.  Marat  ^ 

When  that  Convention  resounded  with  applause  at  the 
news  of  several  hundred  aged  priests  being  thrown  into  the 
Loire,  and  particularly  at  the  exclamation  of  Carrier,  who 
communicated  the  intelligence,  *'  What  a  revolutionary  tor- 
rent is  the  Loire," —  when  these  suggestions  and  narrations 
of  murder,  which  have  hitherto  been  only  hinted  and  whis- 
pered in  the  most  secret  cabals,  in  the  darkest  caverns  of 
banditti,  were  triumphantly  uttered,  patiently  endured,  and 
even  loudly  applauded  by  an  assembly  of  seven  hundred  men, 
acting  in  the  sight  of  all  Europe,  would  my  learned  friend 
have  wished  that  there  had  been  found  in  England  a  single 
writer  so  base  as  to  deliberate  upon  the  most  safe,  deco- 
rous, and  polite  manner  of  relating  all  these  things  to  his 
countrymen  ? 

When  Carrier  ordered  five  hundred  children  under  fourteen 
years  of  age  to  be  shot,  the  greater  part  of  whom  escaped  the 
fire  from  their  size ;  when  the  poor  victims  ran  for  protection 
to  the  soldiers  and  were  bayoneted  clinging  round  their  knees! 
— would  my  friend but  I  cannot  pursue  the  strain  of  inter- 
rogation. It  is  too  much.  It  would  be  a  violence  which  I 
cannot  practise  on  my  own  feelings.  It  would  be  an  outrage 
to  my  friend.  It  would  be  an  insult  to  himaanity.  No! 
Better,  ten  thousand  times  better,  would  it  be  that  every  press 
in  the  world  were  burned;  that  the  very  use  of  letters  were 
abolished;  that  we  were  returned  to  the  honest  ignorance  of 
the  rudest  times,  than  that  the  results  of  civilization  should  be 
made  subservient  to  the  purposes  of  barbarism ;  than  that  liter- 
ature should  be  employed  to  teach  a  toleration  for  cruelty,  to 
weaken  moral  hatred  for  guilt,  to  deprave  and  brutalize  tite 
human  mind.     I  know  that  I  speak  my  friend's  feelings  as 


ON    THE    TRIAL    OF    JEAN    PELTIER  231 

well  as  my  own  when  I  say  God  forbid  that  the  dread  of  any 
punishment  should  ever  make  any  Englishman  an  accomplice 
in  so  corrupting  his  countrymen,  a  public  teacher  of  depravity 
and  barbarity! 

Mortifying  and  horrible  as  the  idea  is,  I  must  remind  you, 
gentlemen,  that  even  at  that  time,  even  under  the  reign  of 
Robespierre,  my  learned  friend,  if  he  had  then  been  Attorney 
General,  might  have  been  compelled  by  some  most  deplorable 
necessity  to  have  come  into  this  court  to  ask  your  verdict 
against  the  libellers  of  Barrere  and  Collot  d'Herbois.  Mr. 
Peltier  then  employed  his  talents  against  the  enemies  of  the 
human  race,  as  he  has  uniformly  and  bravely  done.  I  do 
not  believe  that  any  peace,  any  political  considerations,  any 
fear  of  punishment  would  have  silenced  him.  He  has  shown 
too  much  honor,  and  constancy,  and  intrepidity,  to  be  shaken 
by  such  circumstances  as  these. 

My  learned  friend  might  then  have  been  compelled  to  have 
filed  a  criminal  information  against  Mr.  Peltier  for  "  wickedly 
and  maliciously  intending  to  vilify  and  degrade  Maximilian 
Robespierre,  President  of  the  Committee  of  Public  Safety  of 
the  French  Republic!  "  He  might  have  been  reduced  to  the 
sad  necessity  of  appearing  before  you  to  belie  his  own  better 
feelings,  to  prosecute  Mr.  Peltier  for  publishing  those  sen- 
timents which  my  friend  himself  had  a  thousand  times  felt, 
and  a  thousand  times  expressed.  He  might  have  been  obliged 
even  to  call  for  punishment  upon  Mr.  Peltier  for  language 
which  he  and  all  mankind  would  forever  despise  Mr.  Peltier 
if  he  were  not  to  employ.  Then,  indeed,  gentlemen,  we  should 
have  seen  the  last  humiliation  fall  on  England;  the  tribunals, 
the  spotless  and  venerable  tribunals  of  this  free  country 
reduced  to  be  the  ministers  of  the  vengeance  of  Robespierre! 
What  could  have  rescued  us  from  this  last  disgrace?     The 


232  SIR    .TAMES    MATKINTOSn 

honesty  and  courage  of  a  jury.  They  would  have  delivered 
the  judges  of  this  country  from  the  dire  necessity  of  inflicting 
punishment  on  a  brave  and  virtuous  man  because  he  spoke 
truth  of  a  monster.  They  would  have  despised  the  threats 
of  a  foreign  tyrant,  as  their  ancestors  braved  the  power  of 
oppression  at  home. 

In  the  court  where  we  are  now  met,  Cromwell  twice  sent 
a  satirist  on  his  tyranny  to  be  convicted  and  punished  as  a 
libeller;   and  in  this  court,  almost  in   sight  of  the  scaffold 
streaming  with  the  blood  of  his  sovereign,  within  hearing  of 
the  clash  of  his  bayonets  which  drove  out  Parliament  with 
contumely,  two  successive  juries  rescued  the  intrepid  satirist 
[Lilburne]  from  his  fangs,  and  sent  out  with  defeat  and  dis- 
grace the  usurper's  Attorney  General  from  what  he  had  the 
insolence  to  call  his  court!     Even  then,  gentlemen,  when  all 
law  and  liberty  were  trampled  under  the  feet  of  a  military 
banditti ;  when  those  great  crimes  were  perpetrated  on  a  high 
place  and  with  a  high  hand  against  those  who  were  the  objects 
of  public  veneration,  which,  more  than  anything  else,  break 
their  spirits  and  confound  their  moral  sentiments,  obliterate 
the  distinctions  between  right  and  wrong  in  their  understand- 
ing, and  teach  the  multitude  to  feel  no  longer  any  reverence 
for  that  justice  which  they  thus  see  triumphantly  dragged 
at   the   chariot-wheels   of   a    tyrant;    even   then,    when    this 
unhappy  country,  triumphant,  indeed,  abroad,  but  enslaved 
at  home,  had  no  prospect  but  that  of  a  long  succession  of 
tyrants  wading  through  slaughter  to  a  throne, — even  then, 
I  say,  when  all  seemed  lost,  the  unconquerable  spirit  of  Eng- 
lish liberty  survived  in  the  hearts  of  English  jurors.     That 
spirit  is,  I  trust  in  God,  not  extinct ;  and  if  any  modern  tyrant 
were,  in  the  dninkonness  of  his  insolence,  to  hope  to  overawe 
an  English  jury,  T  trust  and  I  believe  that  they  would  tell  him, 


ox    THE    TRIAL    OF   JEAN    PELTIER  233 

"Our  ancestors  braved  the  bavonets  of  Cromwell;  we  bid 
defiance  to  yours."  ''  Contcmpsi  Catilincc  gladios — non  perti- 
inescam  tuos  /  "  ^ 

What  could  be  such  a  tyrant's  means  of  overawing  a  jury? 
As  long  as  their  country  exists  they  are  girt  round  with 
impenetrable  araior.  Till  the  destruction  of  their  country  no 
danger  can  fall  upon  them  for  the  performance  of  their  duty, 
and  I  do  trust  that  there  is  no  Englishman  so  unworthy  of  life 
as  to  desire  to  outlive  England.  But  if  any  of  us  are  con- 
demned to  the  cruel  punishment  of  surviving  our  country; 
if,  in  the  inscrutable  councils  of  Providence,  this  favored  seat 
of  justice  and  liberty,  this  noblest  work  of  human  wisdom 
and  virtue,  be  destined  to  destruction,  which  I  shall  not  be 
charged  with  national  prejudice  for  saying  would  be  the  most 
dangerous  wound  ever  inflicted  on  civilization;  at  least  let 
us  carry  with  us  into  our  sad  exile  the  consolation  that  we  our- 
selves have  not  violated  the  rights  of  hospitality  to  exiles, 
that  we  have  not  torn  from  the  altar  the  suppliant  who  claimed 
protection  as  the  voluntary  victim  of  loyalty  and  conscience! 

Gentlemen,  I  now  leave  this  unfortunate  gentleman  in  your 
hands.  His  character  and  his  situation  might  interest  your 
humanity;  but  on  his  behalf  I  only  ask  justice  from  you.  I 
only  ask  a  favorable  construction  of  what  cannot  be  said  to 
be  more  than  ambiguous  language,  and  this  you  will  soon  be 
told,  from  the  highest  authority,  is  a  part  of  justice. 

[The  jury  found  the  defendant  guilty,  without  leaving  their  seats;  but 
as  war  broke  out  almost  immediately,  Mr.  Peltier  was  not  brought  up 
for  sentence,   but   was  at   once   discharged.] 

'  "  I  have  despised  the  daggers  of  Catiline,  and  I  shall  not  fear  yours." 


JEAN   VICTOR   MOREAU 


[ean  Yirroi;  ^Ioi-.eau,  one  of  the  most  famous  of  French  generals,  was  born 
at  Morhiix,  in  Brittany,  Aug.  11,  1763,  and  died  at  Laiin,  in  Bohemia,  in 
presence  of  the  Emperors  of  Austria  and  Russia  and  the  King  of  Prussia, 
Sept.  2,  1813.  Educated  for  the  law  at  Rennes,  France,  he  forsook  his 
studies  to  enter  the  army,  and  on  the  outbreak  of  the  French  Revolution  he  served  first 
under  Dumouriez,  and  afterward  was  made  general  of  division  and  conducted  a  success- 
ful campaign  in  Flanders.  At  this  period  he  lost  his  father,  who  was  brought  to  the 
block  at  Paris  on  suspicion  of  having  plotted  with  the  nobles.se  Emigres.  In  1796,  he 
obtained  command  of  the  army  on  the  Moselle  and  the  Rhine  as  successor  to  Pichegru. 
Here  he  defeated  the  Austrians,  then  at  war  with  France  in  the  interest  of  monarchy, 
but  after  checking  the  Archduke  Karl  and  being  menaced  by  a  superior  force,  he  made 
a  masterly  retreat  and  regained  the  Rhine.  For  a  time  he  was  deprived  of  his  com- 
mand, but  was  given  another  in  Italy,  where  he  saved  the  French  army  from  destruction 
by  the  Russians,  and  returning  to  the  Rhine  drove  the  Austrians  from  their  positions 
and  won  the  victory  of  Hohenlinden.  Napoleon,  meanwhile,  had  become  jealous  of 
Moreau's  military  reputation,  and  taking  advantage  of  some  indiscreet  speech  he  had 
made,  which  seemed  to  indicate  participation  in  the  Royalist  plots  of  Pichegru  and 
Cadoudal,  Moreau  was  arrested,  imprisoned,  and  sent  into  exile.  This  occurred  in 
1804,  and  gave  rise  to  his  defence,  which  is  here  appended.  Though  there  was  little 
evidence  of  the  complicity  with  which  he  was  charged,  he  was  banished  from  France 
and  came  for  some  years  to  the  New  World,  residing  chiefly  in  New  Jersey.  Return- 
ing to  Europe  in  1813  he  joined  the  allies,  and  in  the  battle  of  Dresden  had  both  legs 
fractured  by  a  cannon  ball  and  died  within  a  week  in  Bohemia,  his  remains  being  buried 
at  St.  Petersburg.  His  reputation  as  a  general,  supplemented  by  the  "Memoirs" 
which  were  afterward  published  of  him,  perpetuate  his  fame  in  France  as  a  great  and 
successful  soldier. 

SPEECH   IN   HIS  OWN   DEFENCE 

DELIVERED  BEFORE  THE  SPECIAL  CRIMINAL  COURT.   i6th   PRAIRIAL 

UUNE   5).   1804 

IN  PRESE:N'TING  myself  before  you,  I  ask  to  be  heard, 
for  a  short  time,  in  my  own  person.  My  confidence  in 
the  defenders  whom  I  have  chosen  is  complete;  I  have 
nnresers-edly  laid  upon  them  the  charge  of  defending  my  inno- 
cence. It  is  by  their  voice  that  I  desire  to  address  justice, 
but  I  feel  the  need  of  speaking  with  my  own  to  you  and 
to  the  nation. 

Unfortunate  circumstances,  whether    brought    about    by 

chance  or  produced  by  enmity,  may  cast  a  shadow  upon  some 
(234) 


IN    HIS    OWN    DEFENCE  235 

moments  of  the  life  of  the  worthiest  of  men.  A  criminal  may 
cleverly  contrive  to  divert  suspicion  and  proof  of  his  crimes. 
The  whole  of  a  life  is  always  the  surest  testimony  against  or 
in  favor  of  an  accused  person.  It  is,  then,  my  entire  life 
that  I  oppose  to  the  accusers  who  pursue  me.  It  has  been 
sufficiently  public  to  be  well  known;  I  shall  only  recall  cer- 
tain epochs  of  it,  and  the  witnesses  whom  I  shall  invoke  are 
the  French  people  and  the  peoples  whom  France  has 
conquered. 

I  was  intended  for  the  profession  of  the  law  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  revolution  which  was  to  found  the  liberty  of  the 
French  people.  That  event  changed  the  purpose  of  my  life; 
I  devoted  myself  to  arms.  I  did  not  go  and  take  my  place 
among  the  soldiers  of  freedom  from  ambition;  I  embraced 
the  military  profession  from  respect  for  the  rights  of  nations; 
I  became  a  soldier  because  I  was  a  citizen. 

I  bore  that  character  with  the  colors;  I  have  always  pre- 
serv^ed  it.  The  more  I  loved  liberty,  the  more  submissive  to 
discipline  I  was. 

I  rose  rapidly  enough,  but  always  from  rank  to  rank,  never 
overstepping  any,  always  by  serving  the  country,  never  by 
flattering  the  committees.  When  I  had  attained  the  com- 
mand-in-chief, when  our  victories  sent  us  forward  into  the 
midst  of  nations  who  were  our  enemies,  I  was  no  less  careful 
to  make  the  character  of  the  French  people  respected  than  I 
was  to  make  their  arms  dreaded.  "VVar  under  my  command 
was  a  scourge  upon  the  battle-fields  only.  The  nations  and 
the  powers  with  whom  we  waged  war  have  more  than  once 
borne  that  testimony  to  me  in  the  midst  of  their  ravaged  ter- 
ritories. This  conduct  was,  in  my  belief,  as  well  calculated 
as  our  victories  to  make  conquests  for  France. 

Even  at  the  time  when  opposite  maxims  seemed  to  prevail 


236  JEAN    VICTOR    MORKAU 

in  the  committees  of  the  government,  this  line  of  action  did 
not  expose  me  to  either  calumny  or  persecution.  No  shadow 
had  ever  fallen  upon  the  military  glorv^  which  I  had  won, 
until  that  too  famous  day,  the  18th  Fructidor. 

The  persons  who  brought  about  the  events  of  that  day  with 
so  much  rapidity  reproached  me  with  ha^^ng  been  too  slow 
to  denounce  a  man  whom  I  could  only  regard  as  a  brother- 
in-arms  until  the  moment  when  the  evidence  of  facts  and 
proofs  made  it  plain  to  me  that  he  was  justly  accused,  and 
not  only  by  unjust  suspicion.  The  Directory,  which  alone  was 
sufficiently  w^ell  acquainted  with  my  conduct  to  judge  it  fairly, 
and  could  not,  as  everybody  knows,  be  disposed  to  regard  me 
with  indulgence,  loudly  declared  how  entirely  irreproachable 
it  held  me  to  be.  It  gave  me  employment;  the  post  was  not 
brilliant;  it  soon  became  so. 

I  venture  to  believe  that  the  nation  has  not  forgotten  how 
well  w^orthy  of  it  I  have  proved  myself;  it  has  not  forgotten 
wnth  what  ready  self-devotion  I  fought  in  Italy  in  subordi- 
nate posts;  it  has  not  forgotten  how  I  was  restored  to  the  com- 
mand-in-chief by  the  reverses  of  our  arms,  and  remade  gen- 
eral, so  to  speak,  by  our  misfortunes.  The  nation  remembers 
how  twice  I  reconstructed  an  amiy  of  the  remnants  of  those 
that  had  been  dispei-sed,  and  how,  after  I  had  twice  over  put 
it  into  a  condition  to  hold  its  own  against  the  Russians  and  the 
Austrians,  I  twice  over  laid  down  the  command  to  take  one 
which  was  a  greater  trust. 

I  was  not  at  that  period  of  my  life  more  republican  than 
at  every  other,  but  I  appeared  a  more  prominent  republican. 
The  attention  and  the  confidence  of  those  to  whom  it  belonged 
to  give  fresh  movement  and  new  direction  to  the  Republic 
tended  towards  me  in  a  more  special  way.  It  is  well  knoAvn 
that  it  was  proposed  to  me  to  put  myself  at  the  head  of  an 


IN    HIS    OWN    DEFENCE  2311 

enterprise  closely  resembling  that  of  the  18th  Brumaire.  Mj 
ambition,  if  I  had  much,  might  easily  have  concealed  itself 
under  the  appearance,  or  even  openly  boasted  of  the  reality, 
of  love  of  country. 

The  proposal  was  made  to  me  by  men  who  were  celebrated 
in  the  Revolution  for  their  patriotism,  and  in  our  national 
assemblies  for  their  talents.  I  refused  it;  I  believed  myself 
called  to  command  armies,  but  not  to  command  the  Republic. 

That  was  enough  to  prove,  it  seems  to  me,  that  if  I  had 
an  ambition  it  was  not  directed  towards  authority  and  power: 
soon  afterwards  I  proved  this  better  still. 

The  18th  Brumaire  came,  and  I  was  in  Paris.  There  was 
nothing  to  alarm  my  conscience  in  that  Revolution  which  was 
brought  about  by  others  than  me.  It  was  directed  by  a  man 
who  was  surrounded  by  a  nimbus  of  fame;  I  might  hope  for 
happy  results  from  it.  I  entered  into  it  to  second  it,  while 
other  parties  were  pressing  me  to  put  myself  at  their  head  to 
oppose  it.  In  Paris  I  received  the  orders  of  General  Bona- 
parte. By  having  them  executed  I  assisted  to  raise  him  to 
that  high  degree  of  power  which  circumstances  rendered 
necessary. 

When,  some  time  afterwards,  he  offered  me  the  command- 
in-chief  of  the  army  of  the  Rhine,  I  accepted  it  from  him 
with  as  much  zeal  as  from  the  hand  of  the  Republic  itself. 
My  military  successes  were  never  more  rapid,  more  numerous, 
more  decisive  than  at  the  period  when  their  lustre  was  shed 
upon  that  government  which  accuses  me. 

On  returning  from  the  scenes  of  all  these  achievements  — 
the  greatest  was  the  having  effectually  secured  the  peace  of 
the  Continent  —  the  triumphant  soldier  was  greeted  with 
acclamations  that  are  a  national  recompense. 

What  a  moment  to  choose  for  conspiring,  if  such  a  design 
had  ever  entered  my  mind! 


238  JEAN    VICTOR    MOREAU 

The  attachment  of  troops  to  the  chiefs  who  have  led  them 
to  victory  is  well  known.  "Would  an  ambitious  man,  a  con- 
spirator, have  let  slip  the  opportunity,  when  he  was  at  the 
head  of  an  armv  of  one  hundred  thousand  men  who  load  been 
so  often  victorious,  and  when  he  was  returning  to  the  midst 
of  a  nation  still  disturbed  and  always  trembling  for  its  prin- 
ciples and  their  duration? 

My  only  thought  was  to  disband  the  troops,  and  I  retired 
into  the  repose  of  civil  life. 

In  that  repose,  which  was  not  devoid  of  glory,  I  enjoyed 
my  honors,  no  doubt  —  those  honors  of  which  no  human 
power  can  deprive  me:  the  remembrance  of  my  deeds,  the 
testimony  of  my  conscience,  the  esteem  of  my  fellow  country- 
men and  foreigners  alike,  and,  if  I  may  say  so,  the  sweet  and 
soothing  foretaste  of  the  judgment  of  posterity. 

I  was  in  the  enjoyment  of  a  fortune  which  w^as  large  only 
because  my  desires  were  not  extravagant,  and  which  was  no 
reproach  to  my  conscience.  I  had  my  retired  pension  also; 
assuredly  I  was  content  with  my  lot, — I,  who  had  never 
en\'ied  the  lot  of  any.  My  family  and  some  friends — all  the 
more  precious  because,  as  they  had  nothing  to  hope  from  my 
credit  and  my  fortune,  they  could  but  be  attached  to  myself 
alone — these  possessions  filled  my  whole  mind,  and  neither 
desires  nor  ambition  found  any  entrance  into  it.  Would  it 
be  accessible  to  criminal  projects? 

This  state  of  mind  was  so  well  known  to  be  mine;  it  was 
so  amply  vouched  for  by  the  distance  which  I  maintained  from 
all  the  aims  of  ambition,  that  from  the  battle  of  Hohenlinden 
until  my  arrest  my  enemies  have  never  been  able  to  find,  nor 
have  they  sought,  any  other  crime  whereof  to  accuse  me, 
except  the  freedom  of  my  speech.  Well,  it  has  often  been 
favorable  to  the  actions  of  the  government;  and  if  sometimes 
it  has  not  been  so,  was  I  to  think  that  such  liberty  was  a  crime 


IN    HIS    OWN    DEFENCE  239 

in  a  country  which  had  so  often  affinned  by  decree  that 
thought,  speech,  and  the  press  are  free,  and  had  enjoyed  a 
great  deal  of  liberty  even  under  its  kings? 

I  was  bom  w^ith  a  very  frank  disposition,  and  I  have  never 
been  able  to  rid  myself  of  that  attribute  of  France  in  whicli 
I  was  born,  either  in  the  camp,  where  it  flourished  more  than 
before,  or  in  the  Revolution,  which  has  always  proclaimed  it  a 
\artue  in  the  man  and  a  duty  of  the  citizen.  But  do  those 
who  conspire  blame  what  they  disapprove  quite  so  loudly? 
Such  candor  is  hardly  reconcilable  with  the  plots  and  mysteries 
of  politics. 

If  I  had  chosen  to  concoct  and  carry  out  plans  of  con- 
spiracy I  would  have  dissembled  my  feelings  and  endeavored 
to  get  every  post  which  would  have  replaced  me  amid  the 
forces  of  the  nation. 

I  never  possessed  political  genius  to  indicate  such  a  course 
to  me,  but  there  were  well-known  examples  which  had  been 
rendered  conspicuous  by  success,  and  I  had  but  to  consider 
them.  I  know  very  well  that  Monk  did  not  go  away  to  a  dis- 
tance from  the  troops  when  he  planned  his  conspiracy,  and 
that  Cassius  and  Brutus  drew  near  to  Csesar  previously  to 
stabbing  him. 

And  now,  magistrates,  I  have  nothing  more  to  say  to  you. 
Such  has  been  my  character,  such  has  been  my  whole  life.  In 
the  presence  of  God  and  man  I  affirm  the  innocence  and  integ- 
rity of  my  conduct;  you  know  what  is  your  duty;  France  is 
listening  to  you,  Europe  is  observing  you,  and  posterity  awaits 
you. 

I  am  accused  of  being  a  brigand  and  a  conspirator.  The 
generous  gentleman  who  has  undertaken  my  defence  will,  I 
hope,  convince  you  presently  that  such  an  accusation  is  ill- 
founded. 


SAINT-JUST 


jNTOiNE  Louis  Leon  de  Saint-Just,  French  revolutionist,  henchman  of 
Robespierre,  and  one  of  the  leading  promoters  of  the  Reign  of  Terror,  was 
born  at  D^cize  near  Nievre,  France,  Aug.  25,  1767,  and  was  guillotined  at 
Paris,  July  28,  1794.  Beginning  his  education  at  a  school  in  Soissons,  he 
was  expelled  from  the  institution  on  account  of  a  plot  with  which  he  was  charged  to 
burn  the  school  buildings.  Proceeding  to  Paris,  he  flung  himself,  under  the  influence 
of  Rousseau's  ideas,  into  the  political  turmoil  of  the  time,  becoming  an  officer  of  the 
National  Guard  and  a  member  of  the  Electoral  Assembly  of  his  district,  though  yet 
under  age.  Entering  into  correspondence  with  Robespierre,  he  was  returned  deputy  of 
Aisne  to  the  National  Committee,  making  his  first  speech  Nov.  19,  1792.  He  sup- 
ported the  most  extreme  measures,  was  a  member  of  the  Committee  of  Public  Safety, 
and,  next  to  Robespierre,  was  for  months  the  most  conspicuous  leader  in  the  Reign  of 
Terror.  In  February,  1794,  he  became  president  of  the  Convention,  and,  speaking  for 
Robespierre,  he  accused  Danton  of  treason.  On  the  ninth  Thermidor  he  sought  to 
defend  Robespierre,  but  the  sitting  of  the  Convention  closed  with  the  order  for  Robes- 
pierre's arrest.  On  the  following  day,  Saint-,Tust  and  his  master  were  guillotined  with 
twenty  others,  thus  unexpectedly  closing  the  hideous  era  of  the  Reign  of  Terror. 
"Saint-Just,"  observes  Lamartine,  seemed  "to  personify  in  himself  the  cold  intel- 
ligence and  pitiless  march  of  the  Revolution.  He  had  neither  eyes,  ears,  nor  heart  for 
anything  which  appeared  to  oppose  the  establishment  of  the  universal  republic."  He 
possessed  considerable  personal  attractions,  and  was  popular  as  an  enthusiast  and 
revolutionist,  his  admirers  styling  him  the  "  Saint  John  of  the  Messiah  of  the  People." 


ARRAIGNMENT  OF  DANTON 

DANTOX,   you  shall   answer  to   ine\'itable,    inflexible 
justice.     Let   us   look   at   your  past   conduct,    and 
let  us  show  that  from  the  first  day,  the  accomplice 
of  all  crimes,  you  were  always  opposed  to  the  party  of  lib- 
erty,  and   that   you   were   in    league   with    Mirabeau,    with 
Dumouriez,  with  Hebert,  with  Herault-Sechelles. 

Danton,  you  have  sensed  tyranny;   it   is   true  you   were 
opposed  to  Lafayette;  but  ^Firabeau,  d'Orleans,  Dumouriez, 

were  opposed  to  him  also.     Will  you  dare  deny  having  been 
(240) 


ARRAIGNMENT    OF    DANTON  241 

sold  to  those  three  men  —  the  most  violent  of  conspirators 
against  liberty?  Through  Mirabeau's  protection  you  were 
named  administrator  of  the  department  of  Paris  at  the  time 
when  the  Electoral  Assembly  was  decidedly  royalist.  All 
Mirabeau's  friends  boasted  loudly  that  they  had  closed  your 
mouth.  While  this  frightful  character  was  living  you 
remained  almost  dumb.  At  that  time  you  reproached  a  rigid 
patriot  at  a  public  dinner  with  compromising  the  good  cause 
by  turning  aside  from  the  path  followed  by  Bamave  and 
Lameth,  who  abandoned  the  popular  party. 

In  the  first  outburst  of  the  Revolution,  you  showed  a 
threatening  front  to  the  court;  you  spoke  against  it  with 
vehemence.  Mirabeau,  who  meditated  a  change  of  dynasty, 
felt  the  price  of  your  audacity ;  he  seized  you.  From  that  time 
you  strayed  away  from  severe  principles  and  nothing  more 
was  heard  of  you  until  the  massacre  of  the  Champ-de-Mars. 
Then  you  applied  the  motion  of  Laclos  to  the  Jacobins,  which 
was  a  disastrous  pretext  and  paid  by  the  enemies  of  the  peo- 
ple in  order  to  display  the  red  flag  and  attempt  tyranny.  The 
patriots,  who  were  not  initiated  into  this  plot,  had  fought  in 
vain  against  your  sanguinary  opinion.  You  were  appointed 
to  draw  up  with  Brissot  the  petition  of  the  Champ-de-Mars, 
and  you  escaped  the  iury  of  Lafayette,  who  caused  the  mas- 
sacre of  two  thousand  patriots.  Brissot  strayed  afterward 
peaceably  into  Paris;  and  you  spent  happy  days  at  Arcis-sur- 
Aube,  if  indeed  he  who  conspired  against  his  country  could 
be  happy.  Could  the  calmness  of  your  retreat  at  Arcis-sur- 
Aube  be  pictured  to  the  imagination?  You,  one  of  the 
authors  of  the  petition,  while  those  that  had  signed  it  had  been, 
some  loaded  with  fetters,  others  massacred;  were  Brissot  and 
you  ihen  objects  of  gratitude  for  tjTanny  since  you  were  not 
objects  of  terror  to  it? 

Vol.  4—16 


'^'42  ANTOINE    LOUIS    L^ON     DE    SAINT-JUST 

"VMiat  shall  I  say  of  your  cowardly  and  constant  abandon- 
ment of  the  public  cause  in  the  midst  of  crises,  when  you 
always  took  the  part  of  retreat? 

After  Mirabeau's  death  you  conspired  with  the  Lameths 
and  you  sustained  them.  You  remained  neutral  during  the 
Legislative  Assembly,  and  you  were  silent  in  the  painful  strug- 
gle of  the  Jacobins  with  Brissot  and  the  faction  of  La  Gironde. 
At  first  you  influenced  them  in  favor  of  war;  then,  urged  by 
the  reproaches  of  the  best  citizens,  you  declared  that  you 
would  serve  both  parties  and  you  shut  yourself  up  in  silence. 
Leagued  with  Brissot  to  the  Champ-de-Mars,  you  then  shared 
his  tranquillity  and  his  liberty-destroying  opinions;  then, given 
over  entirely  to  this  conquering  party,  you  said  of  those  that 
refused  it,  since  they  remained  alone  in  their  opinions  on  the 
war  and  since  they  wished  to  be  destroyed,  you  and  your 
friends  would  abandon  them  to  their  fate.  But  when  yon 
saw  the  storm  of  the  10th  of  August  gathering  you  retired 
again  to  Arcis-sur-Aube.  A  deserter  from  the  perils  that 
threatened  liberty,  the  patriots  hoped  never  to  see  you  again. 
However,  impelled  by  shame,  by  reproaches,  when  you  knew 
that  the  downfall  of  tyranny  was  well  prepared  and  inevitable, 
you  came  back  to  Paris  the  9th  of  August.  You  went 
to  bed  that  terrible  night.  Your  section,  which  had  named 
you  its  president,  waited  for  you  a  long  time;  they  tore  you 
away  from  a  shameful  repose ;  you  presided  one  hour ;  you  left 
the  arm-chair  at  midnig'ht  when  the  tocsin  sounded;  at  the 
same  moment  tlie  satellites  of  the  tyrant  entered  and  placed 
the  bayonet  on  the  hearth  of  the  one  who  had  taken  your 
place:  you, —  you  were  asleep! 

At  that  moment,  what  was  Fabre,  your  accomplice  and  your 
friend,  doing?  You  yourself  said  that  he  was  parleying  with 
^he  court  in  order  to  deceive  it.     But  could  the  court  rely  on 


ARRAIGNMENT    OF    DANTON  243 

Fabre  without  a  sure  guarantee  of  his  venality  and  without 
very  evident  proof  of  his  hatred  for  the  popular  party.  Who- 
ever is  a  friend  to  a  man  who  has  negotiated  with  the  court 
is  guilty  of  cowardice.  The  intellect  is  subject  to  errors;  the 
errors  of  conscience  are  crimes. 

But  what  have  you  done  since  to  prove  to  us  that  Fabre, 
your  accomplice,  and  you  have  desired  to  deceive  the  court? 
Your  behavior  since  then  has  been  that  of  conspirators. 
When  you  were  minister  there  was  question  of  sending  an 
ambassador  to  London  to  bring  about  an  alliance  between 
the  two  nations:  Noel,  a  counter-revolutionary  journalist,  was 
offered  by  the  minister,  Lebnm;  you  did  not  oppose  it;  you 
were  blamed  for  it:  you  replied,  "I  know  that  Noel  is  of 
no  consequence,  but  I  am  sending  one  of  my  relatives  with 
him." 

What  was  the  result  of  this  criminal  embassy?  Concerted 
war  and  treasons.  You  were  the  one  who  caused  Fabre  and 
d'Orleans  nominated  for  the  Electoral  Assembly,  where  you 
proclaimed  the  one  to  be  a  very  skilful  man,  and  where  you 
declared  that  the  other,  being  a  prince  of  the  blood,  would  by 
his  presence  among  the  representatives  of  the  people  give  them 
greater  importance  in  the  eyes  of  Europe.  Chabot  voted  in 
favor  of  Fabre  and  d' Orleans.  You  made  Fabre  rich  during 
your  ministry.  Fabre  then  loudly  professed  federalism  and 
said  that  France  would  be  divided  into  four  parts.  Roland , 
the  partisan  of  royalty,  desired  to  cross  the  Loire  to  find  La 
Vendee;  you  vdshed  to  remain  in  Paris  where  d'Orleans  was 
and  where  you  were  favoring  Dumouriez.  You  gave  orders 
to  save  Duport:  he  escaped  in  the  midst  of  a  riot  got  up  at 
Melun  by  your  emissaries  to  search  through  an  armed  car- 
riage. Malouet  and  the  Bishop  of  Autun  were  often  at  your 
house;  you  favored  them.     Brissot's  party  accused  Marat; 


214  AXTOINK    LOUIS    L^^ON    DE    SAINT-.TUST 

fou  declared  yourself  his  enemy;  you  stood  aside  from  the 
j\rountain  in  the  dangers  which  it  ran.  You  publicly  made 
it  a  merit  never  to  have  denounced  Gensonne,  Guadet,  and 
Brissot;  you  kept  holding  out  to  them  the  olive-branch,  guar- 
antee of  your  alliance  with  them  against  the  people  and  the 
strict  republicans.  La  Gironde  delivered  against  you  a  ficti- 
tious war.  In  order  to  compel  you  to  show  yourself  in  your 
true  colors,  it  demanded  of  you  your  accounts;  it  accused  you 
of  ambition.  Your  foreseeing  hypocrisy  was  all  conciliating 
and  was  able  to  maintain  you  in  the  midst  of  parties,  always 
ready  to  dissimulate  with  the  strongest  without  insulting  the 
feeblest.  When  the  debates  grew  stormy  there  was  indigna- 
tion at  your  absence  and  at  your  silence ;  you  talked  about  the 
country,  the  delights  of  solitude  and  of  idleness,  but  you 
managed  to  emerge  from  your  torpor  to  defend  Dumouriez, 
Westermann,  his  boasted  creature,  and  the  generals  his  accom- 
plices. You  sent  Fabre  on  a  mission  to  Dumouriez  under  the 
pretext,  you  asserted,  of  reconciling  him  to  Kellermanu. 
The  traitors  were  only  too  well  united  for  our  misfortune:  in 
all  their  letters  to  the  Convention, in  their  orations  at  the  Con- 
vention, in  their  discourses  at  the  bar,  they  acted  as  friends 
and  you  were  theirs.  The  result  of  Fabre's  mission  was  the 
safety  of  the  Prussian  army,  in  accordance  with  secret  condi- 
tions which  your  conduct  afterward  explained.  Dumouriez 
praised  Fabre-Fond,  Fabre-d'Eglantine's  brother:  can  there 
be  any  doubt  of  your  criminal  concert  in  overturning  the 
republic?  You  were  skilful  enough  to  mollify  the  anger  of 
the  patriots :  you  caused  our  misfortunes  to  be  regarded  as  the 
result  of  the  weakness  of  our  armies,  and  you  turned  attention 
from  the  perfidy  of  the  generals  to  occupy  yourself  with  new 
levies  of  men.  You  associated  with  your  criminal  acts 
Lacroix,  a  conspirator  long  since  discredited  and  with  a  soul 


ARRAIGNMENT    OF    DANTON  24^ 

impure  • —  a  man  with  whom  one  could  not  be  united  except 
bj  a  tie  leaguing  conspirators.  Lacroix  was  at  all  times  more 
than  suspected :  hypocritical  and  perfidious,  he  never  in  this 
Assembly  spoke  from  an  honest  heart;  he  had  the  audacity 
to  praise  Miranda;  then  had  the  audacity  to  propose  the 
renewal  of  the  Convention ;  he  behaved  toward  Dumouriez 
just  as  you  did ;  your  agitation  was  the  same  to  hide  the  same 
wrong  deeds.  Lacroix  often  displayed  his  hatred  for  the 
Jacobins.  "Whence  came  the  luxury  that  surrounds  liim^ 
But  why  recall  so  many  hoiTors  when  your  manifest  com- 
plicity with  d' Orleans  and  Dumouriez  in  Belgium  is  sufficient 
excuse  for  justice  to  smite  you? 

Danton !  after  the  10th  of  August  you  had  a  conference 
with  Dumouriez,  in  which  you  both  vowed  a  devoted  friend- 
ship and  united  your  two  fortunes.  You  have  since  justified 
this  frightful  agreement,  and  you  are  still  his  friend  even 
while  I  am  speaking.  Returning  from  Belgium,  you  dared 
to  speak  of  the  crimes  of  Dumouriez  with  the  same  admira- 
tion as  one  would  speak  of  the  virtues  of  Cato.  You  have 
made  an  effort  to  corrupt  the  public  morals  by  making  your- 
self on  many  occasions  the  apologist  of  corrupted  men,  your 
accomplices.  You  were  the  first  in  a  circle  of  patriots  whom 
you  wished  to  surprise,  were  the  first  to  propose  the  banish- 
ment of  Capet;  a  proposition  which  on  your  return  you  no 
longer  dared  to  uphold  because  it  was  out  of  favor  and  would 
have  ruined  you. 

Dumouriez,  who,  about  this  same  time,  had  come  to  Paris 
with  the  design  of  influencing  the  tyrant's  judgment,  did  not 
himself  dare  resist  the  cry  of  public  justice  which  condemned 
the  tyrant  to  death.  What  conduct  did  you  display  in  the  Com- 
mittee of  General  Defence?  You  received  the  compliments 
of  Guaclet  and  of  Brissot,  and  you  paid  them  back ;  you  said 


246  ANTOiNK  LOUIS  l:6on  de  saint-just 

to  Brissot :  "  You  have  intellect,  but  you  have  pretensions." 
Such  was  your  indignation  against  the  enemies  of  your  coun- 
try !  You  consented  that  there  should  be  no  notice  taken,  at 
the  Convention,  of  Dumouriez's  independence  and  treason ; 
you  found  yourself  at  secret  meetings  with  Wimpffen  and 
d' Orleans.  At  the  same  time  you  spoke  in  favor  of  moderate 
principles,  and  your  robust  ways  seemed  to  disguise  the  weak- 
ness of  your  counsels.  You  said  that  severe  maxims  would 
make  too  many  enemies  in  the  Republic.  A  banal  conciliator, 
all  your  speeches  at  the  tribune  began  like  thunder  and  at 
the  end  you  succeeded  in  confounding  truth  and  falsehood. 
What  vigorous  proposition  have  you  ever  directed  against 
Brissot  and  his  party  in  the  Xational  Assembly  where  I  am 
accusing  you?  On  your  return  from  Belgium  you  stirred  up 
the  levy  of  the  patriots  of  Paris  to  march  to  the  frontiers. 
If  that  had  taken  place  then,  who  would  have  resisted  the 
aristocracy  which  had  tried  again  and  again  to  rise?  Brissot 
desired  nothing  else,  and  the  patriots  sent  into  the  field  would 
have  been  sacrificed,  would  they  not?  Thus  the  desire  of  all 
the  tyrants  of  the  world  for  the  destruction  of  Paris  and  of 
liberty  would  have  been  fulfilled. 

You  stirred  up  an  insurrection  in  Paris;  it  was  concerted 
with  Dumouriez;  you  even  announced  that  if  money  was 
lacking  to  bring  it  about  you  had  your  hand  in  the  treasur^j 
of  Belgium.  Dumouriez  desired  a  revolt  in  Pans  to  havo 
a  pretext  for  marching  against  this  city  of  liberty  under  a 
title  less  derogatory  than  that  of  rebel  and  royalist.  You  who 
were  resting  at  Arcis-sur-Aube  before  the  9th  of  August, 
opposing  your  idleness  to  the  necessary  insurrection,  had  found 
your  warmth  again  in  the  month  of  March  to  serve  Dumourie? 
and  to  furnish  him  an  honorable  pretext  for  marching  igair^st 
Paris.     Desfieux,  a  recognized  royalist  and  meikber  of  thi^ 


ARRAIGNMENT    OF    DAXTON  247 

foreign  party,  gave  the  signal  for  the  false  insurrection.  On 
the  10th  of  March  a  body  of  armed  men  set  out  for  the 
Cordeliers,  from  there  to  the  Commune,  which  was  asked  to 
take  its  place  at  their  head.  It  refused  to  do  so.  Fabre  was 
then  showing  great  activity:  "The  movement,"  said  he  to  a 
deputy,  "  has  gone  as  far  as  it  ought."  Dumouriez's  aim  was 
attained;  he  made  his  movement  the  basis  of  his  seditious 
manifesto  and  of  the  insolent  letters  which  he  wrote  to  the 
Convention.  Desfieux,  while  declaiming  against  Brissot, 
received  from  Lebrun,  Brissot's  accomplice,  a  sum  of  'money 
to  send  to  the  south  vehement  addresses  where  La  Gironde 
was  out  of  favor;  but  which  tended  to  justify  the  projected 
revolt  of  the  Federalists.  Desfieux  had  his  own  couriers 
arrested  at  Bordeaux;  and  this  caused  Gensonne  to  denounce 
the  Mountain  and  Guadet  to  declaim  against  Paris.  Desfieux 
afterward  spoke  in  favor  of  Brissot  at  the  Revolutionary 
Tribunal.  But,  Danton,  what  a  contradiction  between  this 
extreme  and  dangerous  measure  which  you  proposed,  and  the 
moderation  which  made  you  demand  amnesty  for  all  the 
guilty ;  which  made  you  excuse  Dumouriez,  and  made  you  in 
the  Committee  of  General  Safety  support  the  proposition 
offered  by  Guadet  to  send  Gensonne  against  the  traitorous 
general.  Could  you  have  been  so  blind  to  the  public  interest  ? 
Could  we  reproach  you  for  lacking  discernment? 

You  accommodated  yourself  to  everything:  Brissot  and  his 
accomplices,  when  they  left  you,  were  always  perfectly  con- 
tented. At  the  tribune,  when  your  silence  was  commented 
upon  unfavorably,  you  gave  them  salutary  advice  to  dissimu- 
late more:  you  threatened  them  without  indignation,  but  with 
a  paternal  kindness,  and  you  gave  them  rather  counsels  to 
corrupt  liberty  to  save  themselves,  to  deceive  us  better,  than 
you  gave  the  Republican   party  to  destroy  them.     "Hate," 


24S  ANTOINK    I  Oils    l.r50X    DE    SAINT-JT'RT 

you  said,  "  is  unendurable  to  my  heart,"  and  you  said  to  us, 
"  I  do  not  love  Marat."  But  are  you  not  criminal  and  respon- 
sible for  not  having  hated  the  enemies  of  the  country?  Does 
a  public  man  determine  his  indifference  or  his  hatred  by  his 
private  prejudices  or  by  the  love  for  his  country,  a  love  which 
you  have  never  felt?  You  acted  as  a  conciliator  just  as  Sixte- 
Quinte  acted  the  fool  so  as  to  reach  the  goal  at  which  he  was 
aiming.  Will  you  now  flash  forth  before  the  justice  of  the 
people,  you  who  never  flash  forth  when  the  country  is 
attacked?  We  had  believed  you  in  good  faith  when  we 
attacked  Brissot's  party ;  but  since  then  floods  of  light  have 
been  thrown  over  your  politics.  You  are  Fabre's  friend; 
you  are  not  a  man  to  compromise  yourself.  You  could  there- 
fore defend  yourself  only  by  defending  your  accomplice.  You 
abandoned  the  Republican  party  at  the  beginning  of  our 
session;  and  since  then  have  you  done  anything  else  than 
cloud  the  deliberations  with  hypocrisy? 

Fabre  and  you  were  d'Orleans'  apologists,  and  you  tried  to 
make  him  pass  for  a  simple  and  very  unfortunate  man:  you 
often  repeated  that  phrase.  On  the  Mountain  you  were  the 
point  of  contact  and  repersuasion  of  the  conspiracy  of 
Dumouriez,  Brissot,  and  d'Orleans.  Lacroix  on  all  these  oc- 
casions perfectly  seconded  you. 

You  looked  on  with  horror  at  the  revolution  of  the  2d  of 
May.  Herault,  Lacroix,  and  you  asked  for  the  head  of  Han- 
riot,  who  had  served  the  cause  of  liberty,  and  you  charged 
against  him  as  a  crime  the  movement  which  he  had  taken  part 
in  to  escape  an  act  of  oppression  on  your  part.  Here,  Danton, 
you  used  your  hypocrisy :  not  having  been  able  to  carry  out 
your  project  you  dissimulated  your  fury ;  you  looked  at  Han- 
riot,  and,  laughing,  said,  "  Fear  not,  keep  on  in  your  course," 
wishing  to  make  him  understand  that  while  you  had  been 


ARRAIGNMENT    OF    DANTON 


249 


apparently  blaming  him  out  of  propriety,  at  heart  you  were 
really  of  his  opinion.  A  moment  later  you  approached  him 
in  the  refreshment-room  and  offered  him  a  glass  with  a  caress- 
ing air,  saying :  "  'No  grudge."  Nevertheless  the  next  day  you 
libelled  him  in  the  most  atrocious  manner  and  charged  him 
with  having  desired  to  assassinate  you.  Herault  and  Lacroix 
supported  you.  But  did  you  not  send  afterward  an  ambas- 
sador to  Petion  and  Wimpif en  in  Le  Calvados  ?  Did  you  not 
oppose  the  punishment  of  the  deputies  of  La  Gironde  ?  Did 
you  not  defend  Stengel,  who  had  caused  the  outposts  of  the 
army  at  Aix-la-Chapelle  to  be  assassinated?  Thus,  defender 
of  all  criminals,  you  have  never  done  so  much  for  a  patriot ! 
You  accused  Roland,  but  rather  as  an  acrimonious  imbecile 
than  as  a  traitor;  you  discovered  in  his  w^ife  only  pretensions 
to  cleverness,  you  threw  your  mantle  over  all  attempts  to  veil 
them  or  disguise  them. 

The  ambassador  of  Spain  says  in  the  same  letter  written 
last  June :  **  What  troubles  us  is  the  reorganization  of  the 
Committee  of  Public  Safety."  You  were  in  it,  Lacroix ;  you 
were  in  it,  Danton. 

iWicked  citizen,  you  have  conspired;  false  friend,  two  days- 
ago  you  spoke  ill  of  Desmoulins,  a  tool  whom  you  corrupted, 
and  you  ascribed  to  him  shameful  vices.  Wicked  man,  you 
compared  public  opinion  to  a  woman  of  evil  life;  you  said 
that  honor  was  ridiculous,  that  glory  and  posterity  were  folly ; 
these  maxims  were  meant  to  conciliate  the  aristocracy:  they 
were  those  of  Catiline.  If  Fabre  is  innocent,  if  d' Orleans, 
if  Dumouriez  were  innocent,  then  doubtless  you  are.  I  have 
said  too  much ;  you  shall  reply  to  justice ! 

[Specially  translated  by  Nathan  Haskell  Dole.] 


CONSTANT 


>p:ni!I  Benjamin  Constant  dk  Keijkcque,  French  politician,  orator,  and 
writer,  was  born  at  Lausanne,  Switzerland,  Oct.  25,  1767,  and  died  at 
Paris,  Dec.  8,  1830.  As  the  prot/'gi^  of  Mme.  de  Stiiel,  he  settled  in  179.5 
in  Paris,  and  soon  took  a  conspicuous  part  in  the  politics  of  the  day.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  Tribunate  from  1799  until  1802.  Banished  by  Napoleon,  he  re- 
turned, on  the  restoration  of  the  Bourbon  monarchy,  and,  remaining  in  Paris  during 
the  Hundred  Days,  took  office  under  the  Emperor.  Upon  the  second  restoration  of  the 
Bourbons  he  was  compelled  to  go  into  exile,  though  he  was  permitted  to  return  in  1816, 
when  he  was  elected  to  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  and  continued  to  liold  a  seat  in  that 
body  until  IS-'JO.  Constant  translated  Schiller's  "  Wallenstein  "  into  French,  published 
a  work  on  "Religion  Considered  in  Its  Source,  Forms,  and  Developments,"  from  the 
rationalistic  point  of  view,  and  wrote  and  argued  in  favor  of  constitutional  liberty. 


FREE  SPEECH  NECESSARY  FOR  GOOD  GOVERNMENT 

CHAMBER  OF  DEPUTIES.  PARIS,  MARCH  23,  1820,  AGAINST  RESTRICTING  THE 

LIBERTY  OF  THE  PRESS 

I  WOULD  ask  the  minister  if  he  has  reflected  on  the 
inevitable  consequences  incident  to  the  suspension, 
temporary  or  otherwise,  of  the  free  circulation  of  our 
newspapers.  It  may  render  him  ignorant  of  all  that  is  pass- 
ing in  the  cliques  of  parasites  and  flatterers  at  court.  All 
governments,  whether  liberal  or  despotic  (you  see  I  eschew 
the  words  "foreign  to  the  interests  or  rights  of  the  people"), 
must  rely  for  security  on  some  means  of  knowing  what  is 
transpiring  in  the  State.  Even  in  Turkey  the  viziers  are 
sometimes  irritated  at  being  deceived  by  thoir  ])achas  as  to 
the  situation  of  the  provinces,  and  perhaps  much  may  be 
attributed  to  the  inexact  knowledge  a  neighbor  prince  had 
(250) 


FREE  SPEECH  251 

of  the  dispositions  of  his  garrisons  when  he  saw  them  de- 
clare against  him.  Now,  gentlemen,  I  assert  it  as  a  fact, 
that  in  suspending  the  free  circalation  of  newspapers,  the 
government  condemns  itself  to  know  nothing,  except  from 
the  advices  of  its  salaried  servants;  that  is  to  say,  it  will 
never  know  more  than  half  the  facts,  and  frequently  it  will 
believe  the  opposite  of  the  true  conditions.  To  prove  this 
truth  I  shall  not  resort  to  reasoning.  Reasoning  is  too  near 
liberty  to  need  to  be  availed  of.  I  shall  invoke  only  a  few 
facts,  because  facts  are  always  the  same.  As  we  have  seen, 
the  chartered  rights  of  the  people  may  be  demolished,  but 
the  facts  remain  impregnable. 

Well,  then,  gentlemen,  will  you  remember  the  occur- 
rence in  Lyons  in  June,  1817  ?  France  was  then  under 
the  exceptional  laws  under  which  you  had  placed  her.  In- 
dividual liberty  was  then,  as  it  again  will  be,  at  the  mercy 
of  a  ministry,  and  the  censor  made  of  journalism  what  you 
will  do  here  in  a  week,  if  you  adopt  this  proposed  law. 

What  was  the  result  then,  gentlemen  ?  A  real  or  a  sham 
conspiracy  resulted.  The  severest  measures  were  taken. 
Many  men  were  put  to  death,  and  for  a  long  time  perse- 
cution was  a  political  method.  Well!  All  this  was  done 
and  the  government  did  not  know  just  what  it  was  agitating 
for.  The  government  saw  its  error  itself,  for  after  all  these 
executions  had  taken  place,  when,  as  a  result,  the  conditions 
were  irreparable,  a  marshal  of  France  was  sent  to  the  field 
of  these  bloody  severities  to  enlighten  the  Ministry  on  the 
true  state  of  things.  In  the  meanwhile,  they  incarcerated, 
judged,  condemned,  executed,  and  all  without  knowing 
wherefore;  for  had  it  not  been  felt  necessary  to  inform 
them,  the  tardy  mission  of  M.  le  Marechal  Marmont  would 
not  have  been  thought  necessary.     1  shall  not  enter  into 


252  HENRI   BENJAMIN    CONSTANT   DE   REBECQUE 

this  lugubrious  history,  nor  judge  between  those  who  affirm 
or  deny  their  authority  in  the  conspiracy.  Who  is  right  or 
wrong — this  has  no  bearing  on  what  I  would  prove.  What 
is  important  is  that  for  months  the  government  was  in  igno- 
rance of  the  facts  and  they  had  to  send  a  personal  messenger 
to  report  eye-witness  on  which  they  could  depend. 

But,  gentlemen,  it  might  have  been  otherwise.  If  in  the 
Department  of  the  Rhone  there  had  been  a  single  liberal 
journal,  this  journal — Jacobin,  revolutionary,  or  whatever 
you  would  call  it — might  present  things  from  a  different 
point  of  view  from  the  local  authorities.  The  government 
might  hear  the  two  sides.  It  should  not  commence  by 
striking  without  reason,  afterward  to  send  to  find  if  it 
had  any  cause  for  striking. 

I  may  be  mistaken,  but  I  think  this  side  of  the  question 
has  never  been  indicated,  and  that  it  is  worth  examination. 
In  suspending  the  free  circulation  of  newspapers,  the  Min- 
istry announce  that  they  desire  to  hear  or  learn  nothing  save 
by  their  own  agents — that  is  to  say  if  their  agents  are  by 
imprudence,  by  any  personal  motives  or  passions,  on  a  false 
route,  they  will  learn  from  them  only  that  which  they  think 
plausible  to  place  their  merit  in  evidence  or  to  assure  their 
justification.  Is  this  to  the  interest  of  government  ?  I  ask 
the  Ministry  to  reflect.  If  at  all  times  I  treat  this  only  from 
the  standpoint  of  the  interest  of  the  Ministry,  it  is  because 
I  would  address  them  words  they  would  hear.  If  it  con- 
cerned them  alone,  I  need  not  speak.  All  authority  brings 
with  it  the  penalties  of  its  responsibilities,  its  vexations,  and 
false  measures ;  nothing  can  be  more  just,  and  Avhat  the  re- 
sult would  be  to  the  Ministry  is  to  me  indifferent. 

But  as  the  example  at  Lyons  has  shown  us,  the  people 
resent  this,  and  I  would  save  the  poor  people  a  part  of  the 


FREE   SPEECH  253 

sufferings  toward  which  this  new  regime  is  inevitably  con- 
ducting us.  I  call  this  a  new  regime,  because  it  is  differ- 
ent from  what  the  charter  had  commenced  to  introduce  in 
France.  But  I  might  as  well  and  more  justly  call  it  the  old 
regime,  for  it  is  the  old  regime  which  we  are  reconstructing 
piece  by  piece;  lettres  de  cachet,  censures,  oligarchic  elections 
— these  are  the  bases  of  the  edifice!  The  columns  and  the 
capitals  will  come  later!  I  ask  the  Ministry  if  they  intend 
to  govern  France  without  knowing  her.  Will  they  adopt 
measures  depending  on  events  of  which  they  are  informed 
only  by  men  whose  interests  are  presumably  to  disguise 
them;  to  commit  thus  without  profit  to  themselves  much 
injustice  which  they  can  never  repair?  If  this  be  their 
intent,  the  suspension  of  the  liberty  of  the  press  is  a  sure 
method  of  its  fulfilment.  But  if  they  find  that  the  French 
people  value  the  right  of  being  heard  before  being  con- 
demned, and  that  twenty-eight  million  citizens  should  not 
be  struck  upon  uncertain  and  possibly  false  reports,  then 
the  journals  must  be  left  free  in  their  field  of  labor.  "What- 
ever the  result,  I  am  happy  to  have  thus  put  the  question. 
France  will  know  if  this  be  refused  how  much  importance 
the  Ministry  attach  to  her  requests  by  the  lightness  with 
which  they  treat  them.  I  ask  if  they  will  do  me  the  honor 
to  reply,  that  they  refute  the  example  cited  in  the  case 
of  Lyons  and  not  lose  themselves  in  vague  declamations 
in  reply  to  the  citation  of  a  precise  case. 

Let  us  pass  to  another  subject  on  which  two  words  of 
explanation  will  be  useful.  To  suspend  the  free  circula- 
tion of  the  press  is  to  place  the  newspapers  in  the  hands 
of  a  minister,  and  to  authorize  the  insertion  in  them  of 
what  he  pleases. 

Have  you  forgotten,  gentlemen,  what  occurred  when  a 


254  HENRI   BENJAMIN    CONSTANT    DE    RKBECQUE 

law,  similar  to  the  one  you  would  resurrect,  gave  to  a 
cabinet  minister  this  power?  I  would  not  speak  of  the 
elections.  I  should  be  ashamed  to  recapitulate  facts  so 
well  known.  It  were  idle  almost  to  tell  the  damage 
caused,  for  in  three  successive  elections  the  minister 
discredited  the  official  articles  attacking  the  candidates. 
He  only  contributed  to  their  election.  On  my  part,  I 
owe  him  gratitude  in  this  respect  and  I  pardon  his  in- 
tentions for  their  favorable  results 

The  facts  I  want  you  to  consider  are  much  more  im- 
portant. You  will  probably  remember  that  in  the  sum- 
mer of  the  year  1818  several  individuals  who  had  filled 
responsible  functions  were  arrested  because  *:hox  were  sus- 
pected of  conspiracy.  I  am  not  called  on  to  explain  or  to 
defend  these  individuals.  Their  innocence  or  their  guilt 
has  nothing  to  do  with  this  matter.  They  were  detained ; 
they  were  ironed;  they  had  yet  to  be  judged;  and  as  they 
were  to  be  exposed  to  the  rigors  of  justice,  they  had  a 
riglitful  claim  on  its  safeguards.  General  Canuel  was 
among  the  number.  AVell,  gentlemen,  while  General 
Canuel  was  incarcerated,  what  did  the  minister  do? 
He  selected  a  journal  of  which  the  editors  were  friendly 
to  the  inculpated,  and  in  it  inserted  the  most  damaging 
articles,  and  as  they  related  to  a  man  who  was  untried 
and  unconvicted,  I  call  them  the  most  infamous.  These 
articles  circulated  throughout  France,  and  he  against  whom 
they  had  been  directed  had  not  the  power  to  respond  with 
a  line.  Do  you  find  in  this  ministerial  usage  of  the  press 
anything,  delicate,  loyal,  legitimate  ?  It  is  this  slavish  use 
of  the  press  they  would  solicit  you  to  enact  anew. 

This  condition  can  never  be  renewed.  The  constituencj 
of  our  present  Ministry  is  a  guarantee  against  it. 


DISSOLUTION    OP    THE    CHAMBER    OP    DEPUTIES  255 

By  a  law  against  universal  liberty,  you  place  the  rights 
of  all  citizens  at  the  discretion  of  a  ministry.  By  suspend- 
ing the  freedom  of  the  press,  you  will  place  at  their  mercy 
all  reputations.  I  shall  not  stop  to  examine  the  promises 
of  the  Minister  of  the  Interior  on  this  anodyne  measure, 
which  is  to  "  stop  personalities,"  to  "  encourage  enlighten- 
ment," and  to  "  leave  writers  free."  What  opinion  have 
the  censors? 

Censors  are  to  thought  what  spies  are  to  innocence; 
they  both  find  their  gains  in  guilt,  and  where  it  does  not 
exist  they  create  it.  Censors  class  themselves  as  lettered. 
Producing  nothing  themselves,  they  are  always  in  the 
humor  of  their  sterility.  No  writer  who  respects  himself 
would  consent  to  be  a  censor.  The  title  of  royal  censor 
was  almost  a  reproach  under  the  ancient  regime.  Has  it 
been  rehabilitated  under  the  imperial  censorship?  These 
men  will  bring  into  the  monarchy  all  the  traditions  of  the 
empire.  They  will  treat  the  liberty  of  the  press  as  they 
do  the  administration,  and  we  shall  be  marching  under  the 
guidance  of  the  errors  of  Bonaparte,  without  the  prestige 
of  his  imperial  glory  and  the  quiet  of  its  unity. 


ON  THE    DISSOLUTION    OF   THE   CHAMBER   OF   DEPUTIES 

IT  IS  said  that  the  dissolution  of  the  Chamber  of  Deputies 
has  at  length  been  resolved  upon.  I  congratulate  France 
upon  it.  An  opportunity  is  oifered  to  her  to  pronounce 
herself  upon  her  destiny.  If  henceforth  she  is  not  free,  she 
may  thank  herself  for  her  slavery.  She  will  have  sponta- 
neously sanctioned  it;  she  will  have  given  herself  up  to  it  of 
her  own  free  will;  and,  whatever  may  be  the  yoke  imposed 
upon  her,  she  will  have  no  right  to  complain. 


256  HENRI    BENJAMIN    CONSTANT    UE    REBEC^UE 

No  doubt  the  career  which  the  determination  of  the  gov- 
eriinient  will  present  to  her  will  be  beset  with  m?ny  difficul- 
ties  and  probably  strewed  with  some  snares. 

Opinion,  which,  when  a  popular  election  is  the  subject, 
ought,  more  than  in  any  other  circumstances,  to  enjoy  an 
entire  independence,  has  no  means  of  making  itself  known, 
no  organ  to  announce  itself. 

The  persons  of  all  the  citizens  are  by  law  at  the  mercy  of 
ministers.  I  do  not  inquire  if  the  ministers  abuse  this  power: 
they  possess  it,  and  that  is  sufficient  for  all  liberty  to  be  sus- 
pended. This  not  all:  private  correspondence,  the  object 
of  respect  in  all  free  nations,  has  been  seen  taken  by  force 
from  the  legitimate  possessors.  Agents  without  legal  author- 
ity have  been  seen  penetrating  the  sanctuary  of  their  domicile. 
The  police  has  been  seen  giving  orders  and  instructions  to 
agents  which  it  has  disavowed,  and  after  having  assumed  the 
place  of  justice  for  its  acts,  has  shielded  itself  behind  justice 
for  impunity. 

Thus,  by  the  very  confession  of  the  ministry,  it  is  under  the 
empire  of  a  dictatorship  that  they  make  an  appearance  of  con- 
sulting France.  It  is  a  gagged  people  whom  they  invite  to  give 
their  opinion.  Censors,  such  as  never  existed  under  any  rev- 
olutionary or  despotic  government;  censors  who,  strange  to 
say,  are  not  anonymous,  have,  with  the  certainty  of  being  dis- 
covered, the  incredible  presumption  to  alter  the  authentic 
papers  delivered  to  them.  They  suppress  not  only  opinions, 
but  facts  ;  they  command  imposture,  sanction  attack,  interdict 
defence,  authorize  calumnies,  forbid  refutations,  pennit  the 
institutions  which  France  and  the  monarch  have  sworn  to 
defend  to  be  insulted  before  their  faces,  and,  under  their 
written  authority,  deputies  wlio  are  faithful  to  them  to  be 
insulted,  and,  as  though  they  were  desirous  of  a  fresh  in- 


t>lSSOLUT10N    OF    THE    CHAMBER    OP    DEPUTIES  257 

vasioii,  denouncing  to  Europe  the  immense  majority  of  the 
French. 

In  such  a  state  of  things  it  is  evident  that  the  nation,  which 
ought  to  exercise  by  means  of  its  electors  the  right  of  suf- 
frage, will  have — in  order  to  understand  itself  and  to  act 
in  concert  and  give  its  votes  to  those  candidates  who  will  not 
deceive  their  hopes  —  many  obstacles  to  surmount;  but  a 
nation  worthy  of  liberty  surmounts  every  obstacle.  No  one 
can  be  compelled  to  inscribe  on  his  bulletin  the  names  he 
rejects.  There  would  therefore  be  cowardice  in  condescend- 
ing, though  it  should  even  be  alleged  that  there  had  been 
tyranny  or  artifice  in  the  pretension. 

In  another  respect  the  existing  obstructions  have  this  advan- 
tage, that  they  will  serve  us  at  length  to  judge  of  the  inten- 
tion of  ministers  without  going  further.  It  is  a  trial  they 
are  about  to  undergo.  If  they  wish  the  elections  to  be  the 
expression  of  the  popular  opinion,  let  them  break  the  chains 
which  bind  the  electors.  Let  them  give  back  to  the  citizens 
their  guarantees,  to  the  papers  their  independence,  to  opinion 
the  means  of  expressing  itself.  Let  them  recollect  that  in 
Rome  no  armed  forces  approached  the  Comitise,  and  that  in 
England  the  place  of  an  election  is  protected,  as  a  sanctuary, 
from  the  agency  of  power.  If  they  refuse  to  follow  this 
noble  example  it  is  because  their  intentions  are  contrary  to 
their  professions.  It  is  not  to  the  rights  of  all  they  pay 
respect;  it  is  to  the  exclusion  of  some   they  aspire. 

This  exclusion  is  in  fact  the  avowed  object  of  the  faction 
whose  orders  they  appear  for  some  time  to  have  received,  "It 
would  be  advantageous,"  say  the  papers  of  this  faction,  "to 
do  away,  by  a  complete  renewal  of  the  Chamber,  these  speak- 
ing-trumpets, these  telegraphs,  who  make  speeches  and,  from 
the  national  tribune,  transmit  signals  to  the  agitators." 

Vol.  4—17 


258  HENRI    BENJAMIN    CONSTANT    DE    REBECQUE 

Thus  we  find  what  is  desired  is  to  drive  from  the  tribune 
all  those  who  warn  France  of  the  danger  her  liberties  are  in; 
and  if  there  is  any  hesitation  in  risking  a  bold  and  free  meas- 
ure it  is  because  the  expulsion  of  these  importunate  orators 
does  not  appear  to  be  sufficiently  certain. 

Humiliating  confession,  in  a  faction  which  pretends  to 
govern  us!  It  can  predominate  neither  by  its  talents  nor  by 
the  efforts  of  its  creatures.  In  order  that  it  may  be  heard, 
every  other  voice  must  be  silent.  In  order  to  persuade,  it 
must  speak  alone.  In  order  that  what  it  writes  may  be  read, 
the  press  must  be  its  monopoly,  and  no  one  must  write  but 
those  in  their  pay.  This  is  not  the  way  that  men  of  any  worth 
govern;  they  respect  their  adversaries  whilst  they  contend 
with  them;  they  have  not  that  dead  conscience  which  applauds 
itself  for  reigning  in  the  void,  which  feels  that  its  power  is 
negative,  which  can  only  shine  in  the  absence  of  everything 
that  is  not  servile  and  base,  to  which  every  struggle  is  a 
defeat,  and  which,  in  order  to  conquer  its  rivals,  is  obliged  to 
drive  them  away  or  proscribe  them.  ■  France,  a  country  of  so 
much  talent  and  so  much  glory,  into  what  degradation  do 
these  men  plunge  you !  to  what  excess  do  they  make  you  fall ! 
Never  did  England,  which  is  fallen  much,  see  this  jealous 
fury  of  an  ambitious  inferiority.  Never  did  Mr.  Pitt  have 
recourse  to  such  ignoble  resources  in  the  removal  of  Mr.  Fox ; 
and  the  weak  and  inconsiderate  ministry  of  the  Graftons  and 
the  Butes  endeavored  to  answer,  not  to  impose  silence  on 
Junius. 

Will  our  ministry  lend  itself  to  the  invidious  meannesses 
of  this  faction?  There  is  some  cause  to  fear  so.  There  is 
already  perceptible  in  its  preliminary  operations  many  an 
effort  to  evade  or  counteract  the  votes;  many  obstacles  pre- 
sented to  the  approach  of  independent  electors,  many  diversi- 


DISSOLUTION   OF   THE    CHAMBER   OF    DEPUTIES  259 

fied  chicaneries  in  the  different  departments.  How  many 
threats  to  the  government  servants!  What  threatenings  of 
dismissal  to  the  functionaries,  without  reckoning  the  more 
memorable  dismissals  which  have  proved  that  neither  virtue, 
integrity,  nor  fidelity  to  the  king  could  expiate  a  resistance 
to  ministers,  zealous  persecutors,  indifferent  colleagues,  and 
faithless  friends! 

Let  us  not,  however,  pronounce  upon  them  an  irrevocable 
sentence.  Seeing  what  they  have  done  we  are  inclined  to 
be  severe.  But  let  us  consider  what  a  noisy  faction  dares 
to  ask  of  them  or  even  proscribe  them  from  doing.  We  shall, 
perhaps,  be  inclined  to  show  some  indulgence.  They  say 
they  are  surrounded  with  danger:  it  may  be  they  think  so. 
If  they  were  reanimated  would  they  be  less  weak?  Would 
they  in  fact  yield  to  that  inclination,  natural  to  mankind,  of 
existing  by  themselves,  and  not  being  the  sport  of  a  foreign 
and  disdainful  power?  The  chance  exists;  let  us  then  exam- 
ine the  picture  which  is  drawn,  or  which  they  give  us  of 
France.  Let  us  admit  that  their  terrors  are  sincere,  and  let 
us  examine  together  if  they  are  well  founded. 

"A  violent  agitation,"  they  tell  us,  "torments  France; 
here  a  party  meditates  the  overthrow  of  the  monarchy;  fur- 
ther on,  conspiracies  of  divers  elements  are  engendering,  but 
united  for  destruction.  We  are  threatened  with  anarchy, 
military  despotism  seconds  it,  in  order  to  stifle  it  after 
the  victory;  invisible  associations  and  Direction  com- 
mittees pervert  the  representative  government  up  to  its 
very  source."     .     . 

Our  social  organization,  our  laws  relative  to  industry  and 
property,  distinct  from  your  efforts  to  elude  and  paralyze 
their  effects,   are  so   admirable   that   everybody   in   France, 


260  HENRI    BENJAMIN    CONSTANT    DE    REBECQUE 

including  those  who  ai'e  not  interested  in  it,  has  more  to  lose 
than  gain  by  pillage.  For  he  who  has  nothing  is,  if  he  likes, 
certain  of  acquiring  something.  It  is  not  the  same  in  other 
countries;  the  poor  there  are  eternally  poor,  except  by  the 
effect  of  crime  or  chance:  but  amongst  us  the  road  is  marked 
out,  and  conducts  every  one,  by  a  progression  protected  by  the 
law,  to  ease  by  the  means  of  labor. 

AVhen  the  ministers  speak  of  anarchy,  there  is  not  only 
error  or  bad  faith  in  it,  there  is  fatuity.  You  shall  be  over- 
thrown to-morrow,  and  I  will  answer  for  it  that  two  hours 
after  your  fall  there  will  be  no  trace  of  anarchy ;  because  there 
are  proprietors  everywhere,  and  order  always  answers  the 
appeal  made  to  it  by  property. 

I  do  not  say  this  to  render  the  prospect  of  an  overthrow 
less  teiTible.  Every  overthrow  brings  with  it  evils  of  longer 
or  shorter  duration,  more  or  less  disastrous,  which  it  is  desir- 
able to  avoid.  I  say  it  to  reduce  things  to  their  just  value, 
because  truth  is  more  forcible  than  emphasis,  because  exag- 
geration, when  it  is  apparent,  hurts  its  cause  and  fails  in  its 
object. 

If  you  simply  represent  that  the  present  is  better  than  that 
which  may  be,  I  will  support  you  zealously,  particularly  if 
you  take  care  to  consider  the  liberty  which  has  been  promised 
us  as  an  integral  and  indispensable  portion  of  that  which  is. 
But  when  you  speak  of  anarchy;  when  you  liberally  bestow 
this  injurious  designation  on  all  opposition  to  unjust  power, 
on  every  appeal  to  recognized  rights,  on  every  manifestation 
of  thought  which  authority  feels  importunate;  when  you 
degrade  as  anarchists  our  richest  capitalists,  our  citizens  who 
are  the  greatest  lovers  of  peace, — your  speeches  are  puerile, 
your  declamations  empty  of  idea,  your  rhetoric  weak,  and  no 
one  pays  attention  to  you,  or  at  least  no  one  believes  you. 


DISSOLUTION    OF    THE    CHAMBER    OF    DEPUTIES  261 

But  now  you  no  longer  fear  anarchy,  but  military  despot- 
ism. I  am  no  more  inclined  than  anybody  else  to  judge 
favorably  of  it;  but  if  there  were  reason  to  fear  this  despot- 
ism would  you  not  have  prepared  the  way?  Do'  you  not 
imprudently  and  unceasingly  extol  the  ser^'ices  wliich  the 
soldiers  render,  or  have  rendered  you?  Do  you  not  pro- 
duce them  as  the  surest  support  of  the  throne  and  the  arbiters 
of  our  destiny?  and  if  by  chance  you  had  unawares  gone  still 
farther;  if  in  the  recent  disturbances,  military  corps  had 
declared  themselves  annoyed  by  the  manifestation  of  an  opin- 
ion different  to  theirs;  if  they  had  in  the  first  place  insulted 
the  citizens  who  manifested  that  opinion,  and  afterward  the 
deputies  on  whom  the  citizens  heaped  testimonies  of  esteem; 
if  you  had  seen  with  an  indifferent,  perhaps  an  indulgent  eye, 
deputies  on  whom  the  citizens  heaped  testimonies  of  esteem; 
a  little  anterior,  and  not  less  remarkable,  these  military  corps 
had  threatened  with  their  vengeance  a  minister  in  office;  if 
his  sudden  retreat  might  be  attributed  to  their  threats,  and 
if  you,  the  present  ministers,  were  coolly  seated  in  that  place, 
thus  become  vacant, — would  you  not  have  been  the  first  to 
suggest  to  the  whole  of  the  soldiery  the  dangerous  doctrine  of 
their  importance?  for  the  sword  does  not  recognize  privilege, 
and  if  it  has  been  possible  to  abjure  passive  obedience  in  order 
to  effect  one  overthrow  it  is  deplorable,  but  not  astonishing, 
that  it  should  also  be  abjured  to  effect  others. 

Besides,  tJiis  passive  obedience  which  you  recommended 
is  it  not  the  most  direct  road  to  military  despotism?  These 
pretorians,  the  habitual  subject  of  the  superficial  and  dull 
erudition  of  your  editors,  did  they  form  an  intelligent  and 
reflecting  army  of  citizens  or  traitors?  Certainly  not.  These 
pretorians  were  blind  instruments  up  to  the  moment  in  which 
they  declared  themselves  rebels;  that  is,  in  which  they  conse- 


262        HENRI  BENJAMIN  CONSTANT  DE  REBECQUE 

crated  to  a  second  chief  the  implicit  obedience  which  they 
had  a  long  time  professed  to  the  fii^st. 

The  best  rampart  against  military  despotism  is  patriotism. 
The  best  guarantee  for  patriotism  is  intelligence.  Seek  then 
no  longer  to  make  of  your  warriors  machines  which  are 
strangers  to  reason.  Place  your  strength  even  in  their  rea- 
son; in  their  reason,  which  will  make  them  feel  the  necessity 
of  discipline;  in  their  reason,  which  will  attach  them  more 
every  day  to  a  liberty  which  will  protect  their  brothers,  their 
wives,  their  fathers,  and  their  children;  in  their  reason,  in 
a  word,  which  will  preserve  them  from  the  suggestions  of  the 
factious,  and  keep  them  on  their  guard  against  their  imme- 
diate commanders  should  they  be  perfidious;  for,  mark  it  well, 
in  the  very  conspiracy  you  announce  it  is  the  immediate 
chiefs,  the  subalterns,  who  have  conspired,  if  you  are  to  be 
believed  about  it.  Xow  these  immediate  chiefs,  these  subal- 
tern oflicers,  were  precisely  those  who  had  a  provisional  right 
to  passive  obedience;  so  their  project,  such  at  least  as  you 
relate  it,  was  to  profit  by  this  passive  obedience,  to  conduct 
their  troops  to  the  very  place  of  crime  without  confiding  to 
them  what  was  expected  from  their  insubordination.  This 
would  have  been  the  masterpiece  of  that  passive  obedience 
which  you  represent  as  the  best  guarantee  for  the  stability  of 
governments. 

Lastly,  of  what  use  are  words  against  the  eternal  and 
immutable  laws  of  our  nature?  This  nature  does  not  abdi- 
cate itself.  I  wrote  so  five  years  ago;  why  am  I  forced  to 
repeat  it?  2Co  one  will  ever  succeed  in  making  man  become 
a  total  stranger  to  all  inquiry,  and  to  resign  the  intelli- 
gence which  Providence  has  given  him  for  his  guidance, 
and  of  which  no  profession  can  absolve  him  from  mak- 
ing use. 


DISSOLUTION    OF    THE    CHAMBER   OF    DEPUTIES  263 

Of  these  physical  means  with  which  you  take  care  to  sur- 
round yourself,  it  is  opinion  which  creates,  assembles,  retains 
around  you,  and  directs  these  means.  These  soldiers,  who 
appear  to  us  and  who  are  in  effect  at  all  times  passive  and 
unreflecting  agents,  these  soldiers  are  men;  they  have  moral 
faculties,  sympathy,  sensibility,  and  a  conscience  which  may 
awake  on  a  sudden.  Opinion  has  the  same  empire  over  them 
as  over  the  rest  of  their  fellow  creatures,  and  no  proscrip- 
tion attacks  its  empire.  See  it  traversing  the  French  troops 
in  1789,  transforming  into  citizens  men  collected  from  all 
parts,  not  only  of  France,  but  of  the  world ;  reanimating  minds 
paralyzed  by  discipline,  enerv^ated  by  debauchery"  causing 
notions  of  liberty  to  penetrate  amongst  them  like  a  prejudice, 
and  breaking,  by  this  new  prejudice,  the  bonds  which  so  many 
ancient  prejudices  and  rooted  habits  had  interwoven.  See 
afterward  opinion,  rapid  and  changeable,  sometimes  separat- 
ing our  warriors  from  their  chiefs,  sometimes  reassembling 
them  around  them,  rendering  them  by  turns  rebels  or  faithful 
subjects,  sceptics,  or  enthusiasts. 

See  in  England,  in  another  sense,  the  Republicans,  after 
the  death  of  Cromwell,  concentrating  all  the  forces  in  their 
own  hands,  disposing  of  the  army,  the  treasure,  the  civil  author- 
ities, the  Parliament,  and  the  courts  of  judicature.  Dumb 
opinion  only  was  against  them,  that  wished  to  repose  itself 
in  royalty.  Suddenly  all  their  means  are  dissolved;  ever}'- 
thing  totters;  everything  falls. 

Doubtless  a  military  government  is  a  great  scourge;  but 
what  are  the  means  to  prevent  the  fear  of  it?  To  reinforce 
the  civil  authority.  jSTow,  to  reinforce  the  civil  authority, 
what  is  necessary?  To  rest  it  upon  justice;  that  is,  on  lib- 
erty. If  you  rest  it  upon  force,  you  come  back  to  a  military 
government;  for  force  and  the  sword  are  one  and  the  same 


264  HENRI  bexja:mix  constant  de  rebecquk 

thing.  We  make  the  citizens  tremble  before  us,  and  we 
tremble  before  the  Janizaries  in  our  tuni.     .     .     . 

To  return  to  the  elections  and  to  the  committees  which  it 
is  said  direct  them,  I  repeat,  the  ministry  gives  to  the  commit- 
tee all  its  power.  On  this  point,  as  well  as  on  so  many  oth- 
ers, they  follow  the  route  exactly  opposite  to  the  end  they  arc 
desirous  of  attaining.  When  chance  furnishes  them  with  the 
means  of  influence  they  reject  it  at  pleasure.  I  could  cite 
for  example  many  departments  whose  prefects,  men  of  intel- 
ligence, moderate,  clever,  and  tolerably  ministerial,  had  gained 
the  confidence  of  their  district.  These  prefects  would  prob- 
ably have  acted  in  the  elections.  What  did  the  ministry  do? 
Hastened  to  displace  them,  in  order  to  replace  them  by 
unknown  persons,  who  might  be  perfectly  worthy,  but  w4io  will 
be  found  evidently  without  standing,  without  connections, 
without  means  at  the  ensuing  elections,  by  which  they  will  be 
surprised  almost  immediately  on  their  arrival. 

It  is  because  the  ministry  does  not  guide  itself  according 
to  its  interests,  it  is  domineered  over  by  a  faction  whose  ambi- 
tion and  hatred  must  be  satiated  by  turns.  Thus  all  the  dan- 
gers at  which  it  is  alarmed  are  the  result  of  its  own  errors. 
Will  it  still  persist  in  a  route  which  has  already  been  so  fatal 
to  it?  AVill  it  persist  in  seeking  its  safety  and  ours  in  a  use- 
less complaisance  towards  an  insatiable  faction,  in  vexations 
always  increasing  and  still  inefficacious,  in  those  laws  of 
exception  which  nowadays  wound  the  nation  without  alann- 
ing  it? 

But  our  ministers  have  enjoyed  the  laws  of  exception  six 
months;  and  by  their  confession  and  complaints  it  does  not 
appear  that  these  laws  have  restored  tranquillity  to  France. 
It  depends  upon  them  indeed  to  axi-est  every  one;  but  they 
have  had  this  power  for  six  months;  and  for  six  months,  if 


DISSOLUTION    OF    THE    CHAMBER    OF    DEPUTIES  265 

they  are  to  be  credited  on  the  subject,  everybody  is  conspiring. 
They  impose  silence  on  the  journals,  but  the  most  alarming 
and  the  least  founded  reports  are  in  circulation.  France  fears 
everything,  because  it  is  told  nothing;  and  as  the  price  of 
having  allowed  nothing  to  be  said,  they  are  obliged  to  refute 
what  has  not  been  said.  Would  the  ministers  at  length  have 
recourse  to  these  great  measures,  to  these  extreme  means,  to 
which,  during  a  celebrated  discussion,  an  orator  less  skilful 
than  the  generality  of  them  made  an  imprudent  allusion,  and 
of  which  the  journals  which  the  ministry  does  not  think  it 
right  to  repress  or  contradict  repeat  the  absurd  threat? 

I  do  not  inquire  what  these  great  measures  will  be:  the 
incarceration  or  the  death  of  some  individuals,  their  trans- 
portation or  their  interdiction,  the  destruction  or  suspension 
of  the  fundamental  compact,  an  attack  against  men  or  things, 
— it  is  of  little  consequence  to  us;  but  what  is  of  consequence 
to  us  is,  that  all  this  is  possible,  that  all  this  would  be  ineffi- 
cacious, that  all  this  would  be  disastrous  even  for  the  authors 
of  these  criminal  attempts, 

I  have  described  the  moral  disposition  of  the  nation  you 
govern.  I  have  described  that  disposition  agreeably  to  what 
you  yourselves  say  of  it.  Do  you  think  that  an  act  of  vigor, 
as  those  you  persecute  call  it,  would  suddenly  change  this  dis- 
position? You  deceive  yourselves,  revolutionary  recollections 
lead  you  astray.  When  the  question  was  the  leading  a  peo- 
ple who  had  not  yet  received  the  severe  education  of  mis- 
fortune ;  a  people  intoxicated  with  a  recent  factory  over  des- 
}X)tism,  and  restless  at  the  duration  of  that  victoiy;  a  peo- 
ple who,  led  to  liberty  by  the  Revolution,  did  not,  in  their 
ignorance,  sufficiently  distinguish  revolution  from  liberty; 
fiery  demagogues  might  avail  themselves  of  their  little  infor- 
mation and  draw  from  them  a  blind  sentiment  in  favor  of  the 


266  HENKI    BENJAMIX    CONSTANT    DE    REBECQUE 

violation  of  the  laws;  but  now  every  Frenchman  knows  the 
consequences  of  these  criminal  resources  which,  constituting 
the  legal  authorities  into  revolt  against  the  law  itself,  prevent 
all  return  to  justice  and  lawful  authority. 

The  citizens  know  that  they  form  a  part  of  one  another, 
they  see  the  security  of  each  in  the  security  of  the  whole,  they 
know  that  order  established,  consecrated,  and  sanctioned  by 
oaths  cannot  be  broken  for  a  day  or  an  hour;  when  once 
broken  it  is  never  re-established.  The  Legislative  Assembly 
never  returned  to  it  after  the  10th  of  August,  nor  the  Con- 
vention after  the  31st  of  May,  nor  the  councils  of  the  Repub- 
lic after  Fructidor.  In  vain  they  proclaimed  that  they 
and  the  country  were  saved;  they  perished,  and  the  country 
had  perished  with  them  if  nations  were  as  perishable  as 
power. 

In  fact,  what  is  there  left  to  a  people  after  their  consti- 
tution has  been  violated?  Where  is  securitv?  Where  is  con- 
fidence?  Where  the  anchor  of  safety?  Kothing  but  a  spirit 
of  usurpation  is  found  in  those  who  govern;  a  spirit  which, 
pursuing  them  like  remorse,  frightens  and  drives  them  out 
of  their  course.  Tyranny  hovers  over  the  heads  of  the  gov- 
erned. Does  power  wish  to  pronounce  consoling  words,  to 
protest  its  future  respect  for  a  constitution  which  it  has  torn 
to  pieces,  to  promise  it  will  no  more  attempt  it?  Where  is 
the  guarantee  that  this  fresh  homage  is  not  a  fresh  derision? 
Do  the  people  dare,  even  in  a  partial  interest,  without  refer- 
ence to  gToat  political  questions,  invoke  that  constitution 
which  has  been  trampled  under  foot?  The  very  name  of  con- 
stitution seems  a  hostility.  On  all  sides  a  habit  of  illegal 
means  is  contracted.  It  forms  the  afterthought  of  the  govern- 
ment, it  nourishes  the  spirit  of  the  factious.  W^ith  perfidious 
joy  they  contemplate  power  taken  in  its  own  trammels,  march- 


DISSOLUTION    OF   THE    CHAMBER    OF    DEPUTIES  261 

ing  from  convulsion  to  convulsion,  from  violence  to  violence, 
revolting  justice,  preparing  excuses  in  despair,  and  destined 
to  suffer  the  fat-e  of  those  whom  iniquity  directs  and  hatred 
surrounds. 

Such  certainly  will  not  be  the  destiny  to  which  an  enlight- 
ened monarch  will  condemn  France.  Ministers  will  not  dare 
to  advise  him  to  it;  and  if  they  did,  they  would  neither  find 
in  the  prince  an  approver,  nor,  in  the  great  body  of  the  state, 
instruments. 

And  who  then  will  take  these  great  measures,  and  on  what 
force  will  they  rely  for  their  execution?  On  the  ordi- 
nances? Do  we  not  remember  the  ordinances  of  1815?  Has 
opinion  ceased  a  single  moment,  for  these  three  years,  to  call 
for  their  revocation?  The  ordinances  of  1815  have  done 
much  harm.  They  would  have  done  still  more  had  not  their 
instigators  been  the  old  tools  of  demagogism  and  slavery,  so 
that  the  constitutional  monarchy  was  enabled  to  disown  them. 
At  the  present  moment  the  mischief  that  such  ordinances 
would  occasion  would  be  without  remedy. 

Will  they  invoke  the  support  of  the  Chamber  of  Peers? 
I  conceive  in  a  faction  that  nothing  makes  recede,  nothing 
enlightens,  that  disposition  to  parodize  the  acts  of  a  tyranny 
whose  chief  it  detested  and  whose  system  it  approved;  but 
if  this  faction  has  its  forgetfulness  the  nation  has  its  recol- 
lections. It  knows  that  the  first  Senatus-ConsuUe  was  an 
order  for  the  transportation  of  a  hundred  and  thirty  citizens, 
and  it  has  not  forgotten  what  the  Senatus-ConsuUes  cost  her 
afterward. 

All  authority  which  exceeds  its  bounds  ceases  to  be  legiti- 
mate ;  and  this  fundamental  principle  of  natural,  political,  and 
civil  law  is  corroborated  by  the  charter.  The  charter  points 
out  the  case  in  which  the  assembling  of  the  Chamber  of  Peera 


208        HENRI  BKXJAMIN  CONSTAXT  DE  REBECQUE 

would  be  illicit;  the  simple  want  of  royal  convocation  renders  it 
so;  and  what  the  Chamber  of  Peei-s  would  do,  trampling  under 
foot  the  laws  and  the  Charter  —  the  Chamber  of  Peers  pro- 
scribing  individuals  who  have  the  same  guarantees  and  are 
protected  by  the  same  safeguards  as  the  first  Peer  in  France  — 
the  Chamber  of  Peers  suppressing  or  suspending  political 
bodies  which  emanate  from  the  same  source  as  themselves, 
which  exist  by  the  same  title  —  what  the  Chamber  of  Peers 
would  do,  constituting  itself  the  rival  or  legatee  of  the  Con- 
vention of  the  Imperial  Senate,  would  it  have  any  authority, 
any  validity  whatever?  No;  all  would  be  null  in  the  strongest 
sense  of  the  word. 

I  like  to  pay  public  respect  to  an  illustrious  assembly. 
Such  thoughts  will  never  enter  the  heads  of  any  member  of 
the  House  of  Peers  who  has  occasion  to  identify  himself  with 
our  institutions  and  to  nationalize  himself  in  France. 

The  Chamber  of  Peers  knows  both  the  nature  of  its 
attributes  and  the  limits  of  its  power.  It  contributes  to  the 
making  the  laws  and  to  the  vote  of  taxes,  but  it  only  par- 
ticipates in  these  things.  It  would  be  a  usurpation  if  they 
voted  laws  without  the  concurrence  of  the  other  Chamber, 
and  no  one  would  be  obliged  to  obey  such  laws.  It  would 
be  a  usurpation  if  they  voted  taxes  without  the  previous  dis- 
cussion and  consent  of  the  deputies,  and  no  one  could  be  com- 
pelled to  pay  such  taxes.  For  a  still  stronger  reason  it  would 
be  a  flagi-ant  usurpation  if  they  intermeddled  with  the  right  of 
citizens  or  with  the  existence  of  other  power.  Their  decrees, 
their  ordinances,  their  judgment,  their  Senatus-Consultes, 
whatever  they  may  be  called,  although  sanctioned  by  the 
unanimity  of  the  members,  would  be  as  little  binding  as 
the  decree  of  the  three  first  individuals  you  may  meet  by 
chance. 


DISSOLUTION    OF    THE    CHAMBER    OF    DEPUTIES  269 

I  have  examined  many  arguments,  I  have  gone  through 
many  hypotheses.  The  result  of  the  considerations  which  I 
have  hastily  put  together  in  these  few  pages  appears  to  mo 
easy  to  comprehend. 

The  ministry,  by  persevering  in  a  system  which  it  has  fol- 
lowed these  six  months,  cannot  maintain  itself  or  save  France. 
It  relies  on  a  faction  which  has  twenty  times  committed  the 
throne  and  will  commit  it  again.  It  makes  use  of  those 
means  of  which  all  anterior  governments  have  made  use,  and 
which  have  ended  in  the  fall  of  all  these  governments.  It  is 
shaking  that  Avhich  time  had  began  to  consolidate. 

But  in  the  present  state  of  civilization,  the  people,  what- 
ever adulators  may  say  on  the  one  hand,  and  enemies  on  the 
other,  have  neither  affection  nor  hatred.  The  resources  which 
individuals  find  in  themselves,  the  distance  which  the  extent 
of  empires  establishes  between  the  governing  and  the  gov- 
erned, the  enjoyments  which  industry  procures  to  the  latter, 
commerce,  private  speculations,  and  domestic  life,  cause  every 
one  to  set  his  happiness,  for  the  most  part,  apart  from 
authority. 

It  follows,  therefore,  that  there  is  not,  nor  can  be,  a  doubt 
of  the  attachment  of  the  people  to  some  form  or  other  of 
political  organization.  This  moral  disposition  of  the  human 
species  renders  it  impossible  to  govern  long  and  govern  badly. 
The  example  of  Bonaparte  by  no  means  weakens  this  asser- 
tion. What  must  he  not  have  been  obliged  to  do  to  have 
governed  badly  for  fourteen  years;  the  conquest  of  the  world 
is  not  a  diversion  that  everyone  has  within  his  reach  to  give 
the  people. 

I  wish  this  truth  could  make  its  wa.y  into  the  little  minds  of 
these  little  pupils  of  Napoleon  who  think  they  have  grown 
large  in  his  atmosphere  because  they  have  breathed  the  air 


270        HENRI  BENJAMIN  CONSTANT  DE  REBECQUE 

of  his  antc?-cliaiiibers,  and  who  repeat  after  him,  with  a 
ridiculous  spirit  of  despotism,  that  power  serves  for  every- 
thing; as  if,  being  passive  instruments  of  power,  they  had  on 
that  account  alone  learned  to  handle  it;  but  this  disposition  of 
the  human  species,  which  renders  it  impossible  to  govern  long 
and  govern  badly,  gives  to  power  the  certitude  of  governing 
in  safety  when  it  governs  well.  For  by  the  same  rule,  accord- 
ing to  which  no  nation  devotes  itself  to  sustain  a  government 
which  has  put  itself  in  a  false  position,  no  nation  will  expose 
itself  in  an  attempt  to  overthrow  a  government  when  it  is 
tolerable.  The  mass  always  prefer  stability.  If  they  depart 
from  it,  it  would  not  be  on  the  suggestion  of  the  seditious,  but 
because  the  government  began  gratuitously  to  interfere  in 
their  interest,  their  security,  and  their  habits. 

It  foMows  further,  from  this  moral  disposition  of  modern 
nations,  that  when  men  can  abjure  their  faults  those  faults 
are  forgotten.  Feeling  only  has  memory",  the  indifferent  are 
always  ready  to,  clear  the  table  and  begin  at  fresh  account. 
It  is  only  necessary  to  believe  the  sincerity  of  conversion,  and 
in  order  that  it  may  be  believed  it  must  exist. 

The  dissolution  of  the  present  Chamber,  the  convocation 
of  an  assembly  composed  of  fresh  elements,  is  then  a  mar- 
vellous chance;  but  this  chance  will  be  spoiled  in  falsifying 
the  electors  by  an  illegal  influence.  If  the  ministry'  should 
obtain  a  factious  majority  it  would  not  be  the  stronger  for  it; 
and  they  would  run  this  risk  in  that  factious  majority,  that  if 
in  the  sequel  they  should  come  to  their  senses  they  would 
be  prevented  by  it  from  following  the  light  they  would  have 
acquired. 

Let  then  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  be  dissolved,  let  the 
nation  return  faithful  representatives,  and  let  the  nation  be 
governed  at  length  by  these  ministers  or  by  others,  as  they 


DISSOLUTION    OF   THE    CHAMBER   OP    DEPUTIES  271 

desire  or  deserve  to  be.  The  fall  of  the  ministry  is  equally 
indifferent  to  me  as  its  duration.  I  have  traced,  without 
circumlocution  and  without  winding,  the  errors  of  those  of 
its  members  whose  errors  appeared  to  me  to  be  the  greatest; 
but  political  hatred,  as  political  affection,  are  equally  unknown 
to  me.  Persons  are  the  same  to  me,  and  the  past  appears  to 
me  important  only  as  it  serves  as  a  guide  for  the  future. 


JOHN   QUINCY   ADAMS 


John  Quincy  Adams,  son  of  President  John  Adams,  and  himself  sixth 
President  of  the  United  States  (1825-29),  was  born  at  Braintree,  Mass., 
July  11,  1767,  and  died  at  Washington,  D.  C,  Feb.  23,  1848.  Educated 
at  Paris  and  at  the  University  of  Leyden,  and  subsequently  graduating 
at  Harvard,  he  later  on  studied  law  and  in  1791  was  admitted  to  the  Bar.  Being  a 
scholarly  man,  he  wrote  with  distinction  some  political  essays  which  gained  for  him,  in 
1794,  appointment  as  United  States  Minister  to  the  Netherlands,  and  he  subsequently 
represented  the  nation  as  Minister  at  Berlin.  Recalled  in  1801,  he  entered  the  United 
States  Senate  two  years  later  as  a  Federalist,  but  lost  his  seat  in  1808  in  consequence 
of  his  vote,  given  in  the  previous  year,  for  Jefferson's  embargo  policy  against  France 
and  England.  After  thus  separating  himself  from  the  Federal  party,  he  filled  the  pe- 
riod of  his  retirement  from  public  life  by  acting  for  three  years  as  professor  of  rhetoric 
and  belles-lettres  at  Harvard.  In  1809,  he  was  meanwhile  intrusted  by  Madison  with 
the  United  States  embassy  at  St.  Petersburg,  after  which  he  served  as  one  of  the 
commissioners  who  negotiated  the  treaty  of  peace  with  Britain  (1814)  and  for  two 
years  thereafter  was  our  Minister  at  the  Court  of  St.  James.  On  his  return  to  this 
country,  in  1817,  he  became  Secretary  of  State  in  Monroe's  cabinet,  a  post  he  held 
throughout  Monroe's  administration,  and  was  instrumental  in  it  in  bringing  about 
the  cession  of  Florida  to  the  United  States.  In  1824,  of  the  four  candidates  for 
the  Presidency,  —  Jackson,  Clay,  Crawford,  and  J.  (}.  Adams, —  all  of  them  profess- 
ing Democrats,  a  deadlock  ensued,  since  no  one  of  them  had  the  requisite  majority. 
The  election  therefore  devolved  on  the  House  of  Representatives,  which  under 
Clay's  influence  chose  Mr.  Adams.  Four  years  later,  on  seeking  reelection,  he  was 
defeated  by  Jackson,  and  Mr.  Adams  for  a  time  retired  to  private  life,  only  how- 
ever to  be  recalled  in  1830  to  Congress,  where  he  represented  bis  own  district  until 
his  death  by  a  stroke  of  paralysis  in  the  Capitol.  His  oration  at  Plymouth  in  1802, 
in  memory  of  the  handing  of  the  Pilgrims,  given  in  these  pages,  belongs  to  litera- 
ture and  history  rather  than  to  politics. 
(272) 


ORATION  AT  PLYMOUTH  273 


ORATION    AT    PLYMOUTH 

DELIVERED    AT    PLYMOUTH,    DECEMBER    22,    lSo2,    IN    COMMEMORATION 
OF    THE   LANDING    OF    THE    PILGRIMS 


AMOXG  the  sentiments  of  most  powerful  operation 
upon  the  human  heart,  and  most  highly  honor- 
able to  the  human  character,  are  those  of  ven- 
eration for  our  forefathers,  and  of  love  for  our  posterity. 
They  form  the  connecting  links  between  the  selfish  and 
the  social  passions.  By  tlu^  fmidamental  principle  of 
Christianity,  the  happiness  of  the  individual  is  inter- 
woven, by  innumerable  and  imperceptible  ties,  with  that 
of  his  contemporaries.  By  the  power  of  filial  reverence 
and  parental  affection,  individual  existence  is  extended 
beyond  the  limits  of  individual  life,  and  the  happiness 
of  every  age  is  chained  in  mutual  dependence  upon  that 
of  every  other.  Respect  for  his  ancestors  excites,  in  the 
breast  of  man,  interest  in  their  history,  attachment  to  their 
characters,  concern  for  their  errors,  involuntary  pride  in 
their  virtues.  Love  for  his  posterity  spurs  him  to  exer- 
tion for  their  su23port,  stimulates  him  to  virtue  for  their 
example,  and  fills  him  with  the  tenderest  solicitude  for 
their  welfare.  Man,  therefore,  was  not  made  for  himself 
alone.  "No,  he  was  made  for  his  country,  by  the  obliga- 
tions of  the  social  compact ;  he  was  made  for  his  species, 
by  the  Christian  duties  of  universal  charity ;  he  was  made 
for  all  ages  past,  by  the  sentiment  of  reverence  for  his 
forefathers;  and  he  was  made  for  all  future  times,  by  the 

Vol.  4-18 


274  JOHN    QUINCY    ADAMS 

impulse  of  affection  for  his  progeny.     Under  the  influence 
of  these  principles, 

"Existence  sees  him  spurn  her  bounded  reign. " 

They  redeem  his  nature  from  the  subjection  of  time  and 
space;  he  is  no  longer  a  "puny  insect  shivering  at  a  breeze"  ; 
he  is  the  glory  of  creation,  formed  to  occupy  all  time  and  all 
extent;  bounded,  during  his  residence  upon  earth,  only  to 
the  boundaries  of  the  world,  and  destined  to  life  and  im 
mortality  in  brighter  regions,  when  the  fabric  of  nature  it- 
self shall  dissolve  and  perish. 

The  voice  of  history  has  not,  in  all  its  compass,  a  note 
but  answers  in  unison  with  these  sentiments.  The  barba 
rian  chieftain,  who  defended  his  country  against  the  Roman 
invasion,  driven  to  the  remotest  extremity  of  Britain,  and 
stimulating  his  followers  to  battle  by  all  that  has  power  of 
persuasion  upon  the  human  heart,  concluded  his  persuasion 
by  an  appeal  to  these  irresistible  feelings:  "Think  of  your 
forefathers  and  of  your  posterity."  The  Romans  them- 
selves, at  the  pinnacle  of  civilization,  were  actuated  by  the 
same  impressions,  and  celebrated,  in  anniversary  festivals, 
every  great  event  which  had  signalized  the  annals  of  their 
forefathers.  To  multiply  instances  where  it  were  impos 
sibie  to  adduce  an  exception  would  be  to  waste  your  time 
and  abuse  your  patience;  but  in  the  sacred  volume,  which 
contains  the  substance  of  our  firmest  faith  and  of  our  most 
precious  hopes,  these  passions  not  only  maintain  their  high- 
est efficacy,  but  are  sanctioned  by  the  express  injunctions  of 
the  Divine  Legislator  to  his  chosen  people. 

The  revolutions  of  time  furnish  no  previous  example  of 
a  nation  shooting  up  to  maturity  and  expanding  into  great- 
ness with  the  rapidity  which  has  characterized  the  growth  of 


ORATION  AT  PLYMOUTH  275 

the  American  people.  In  the  luxuriance  of  youth,  and  in 
the  vigor  of  manhood,  it  is  pleasing  and  instructive  to  look 
backward  upon  the  helpless  days  of  infancy;  but  in  the 
continual  and  essential  changes  of  a  growing  subject, 
the  transactions  of  that  early  period  would  be  soon  ob- 
literated from  the  memory  but  for  some  periodical  call  of 
attention  to  aid  the  silent  records  of  the  historian.  Such 
celebrations  arouse  and  gratify  the  kindliest  emotions  of 
the  bosom.  They  are  faithful  pledges  of  the  respect  we 
bear  to  the  memory  of  our  ancestors  and  of  the  tenderness 
with  which  we  cherish  the  rising  generation.  They  intro- 
duce the  sages  and  heroes  of  ages  past  to  the  notice  and 
emulation  of  succeeding  times ;  they  are  at  once  testimonials 
of  our  gratitude,  and  schools  of  virtue  to  our  children. 

These  sentiments  are  wise ;  they  are  honorable ;  they  are 
virtuous ;  their  cultivation  is  not  merely  innocent  pleasure, 
it  is  incumbent  duty.  Obedient  to  their  dictates,  you,  my 
fellow-citizens,  have  instituted  and  paid  frequent  observance 
to  this  annual  solemnity.  And  what  event  of  weightier  in- 
trinsic importance,  or  of  more  extensive  consequences,  was 
ever  selected  for  this  honorary  distinction  ? 

In  reverting  to  the  period  of  our  origin,  other  nations 
have  generally  been  compelled  to  plunge  into  the  chaos  of 
impenetrable  antiquity,  or  to  trace  a  lawless  ancestry  into 
the  caverns  of  ravishers  and  robbers.  It  is  your  peculiar 
privilege  to  commemorate,  in  this  birthday  of  your  nation, 
an  event  ascertained  in  its  minutest  details ;  an  event  of 
which  the  principal  actors  are  known  to  you  familiarly,  as 
if  belonging  to  your  own  age ;  an  event  of  a  magnitude  be- 
fore which  imagination  shrinks  at  the  imperfection  of  her 
powers.  It  is  your  further  happiness  to  behold,  in  those 
eminent  characters,  who  were  most  conspicuous  in  accom- 


276  JOHN    QUIXCY    ADAMS 

plishing  the  settlement  of  your  country,  men  upon  whose 
virtue  you  can  dwell  with  honest  exultation.  The  founders 
of  your  race  are  not  handed  down  to  you,  like  the  fathers  of 
the  Roman  people,  as  the  sucklings  of  a  wolf.  You  are  not 
descended  from  a  nauseous  compound  of  fanaticism  and  sen- 
suality, whose  only  argument  was  the  sword,  and  whose  only 
paradise  was  a  brothel.  No  Gothic  scourge  of  God,  no  Van- 
dal pest  of  nations,  no  fabled  fugitive  from  the  flames  of 
Troy,  no  bastard  Norman  tyrant,  appears  among  the  list 
of  worthies  who  first  landed  on  the  rock,  which  your  ven- 
eration has  preserved  as  a  lasting  monument  of  their  achieve- 
ment. The  great  actors  of  the  day  we  now  solemnize  were 
illustrious  by  their  intrepid  valor  no  less  than  by  their  Chris 
tian  graces,  but  the  clarion  of  conquest  has  not  blazoned  forth 
their  names  to  all  the  winds  of  heaven.  Their  glory  has  not 
been  wafted  over  oceans  of  blood  to  the  remotest  regions  of 
the  earth.  They  have  not  erected  to  themselves  colossal 
statues  upon  pedestals  of  human  bones,  to  provoke  and  in- 
sult the  tardy  hand  of  heavenly  retribution.  But  theirs 
was  "the  better  fortitude  of  patience  and  heroic  martyr- 
dom." Theirs  was  the  gentle  temper  of  Christian  kind- 
ness; the  rigorous  observance  of  reciprocal  justice;  the 
unconquerable  soul  of  conscious  integrity.  Worldly  fame 
has  been  parsimonious  of  her  favor  to  the  memory  of  those 
generous  companions.  Their  numbers  were  small;  their 
stations  in  life  obscure;  the  object  of  their  enterprise  un- 
ostentatious; the  tbeatre  of  their  exploits  remote;  how 
could  they  possibly  be  favorites  of  worldly  Fame — that 
common  crier,  whose  existence  is  only  known  by  the  as- 
semblage of  multitudes;  that  pander  of  wealth  and  great- 
ness,   so  eager  to   haunt  the   palaces  of    fortune,    and  sc 

fastidious  to  the  houseless  dignity  of  virtue;  that  parasite 

|9— VoL  VL — Orations 


ORATION    AT    PLYMOUTH 


277 


of  pride,  ever  scornful  to  meekness,  and  ever  obsequious 
to  insolent  power;  that  heedless  trumpeter,  whose  ears  are 
deaf  to  modest  merit,  and  whose  eyes  are  blind  to  blood- 
less,  distant  excellence  ? 

When  the  persecuted  companions  of  Robinson,  exiles 
from  their  native  land,  anxiously  sued  for  the  privilege  of 
removing  a  thousand  leagues  more  distant  to  an  untried 
soil,  a  rigorous  climate,  and  a  savage  wilderness,  for  the 
sake  of  reconciling  their  sense  of  religious  duty  with  their 
affections  for  their  country,  few,  perhaps  none  of  them, 
formed  a  conception  of  what  would  be,  within  two  cen 
turies,  the  result  of  their  undertaking.  When  the  jealous 
and  niggardly  policy  of  their  British  sovereign  denied  them 
even  that  humblest  of  requests,  and  instead  of  liberty  would 
barely  consent  to  promise  connivance,  neither  he  nor  they 
might  be  aware  that  they  were  laying  the  foundations  of  a 
power,  and  that  he  was  sowing  the  seeds  of  a  spirit,  which, 
in  less  than  two  hundred  years,  would  stagger  the  throne 
of  his  descendants,  and  shake  his  united  kingdoms  to  the 
centre.  So  far  is  it  from  the  ordinary  habits  of  mankind  to 
calculate  the  importance  of  events  in  their  elementary  prin- 
ciples, that  had  the  first  colonists  of  our  country  ever  inti- 
mated as  a  part  of  their  designs  the  project  of  founding  a 
great  and  mighty  nation,  the  finger  of  scorn  would  have 
pointed  them  to  the  cells  of  Bedlam  as  an  abode  more  suit^ 
able  for  hatching  vain  empires  than  the  solitude  of  a  trans- 
atlantic desert. 

These  consequences,  then  so  little  foreseen,  have  un- 
folded themselves,  in  all  their  grandeur,  to  the  eyes  of  the 
present  age.  It  is  a  common  amusement  of  speculative 
minds  to  contrast  the  magnitude  of  the  most  important 
events  with  the  minuteness  of  their  primeval  causes,  and 


278  JOHN    U^'INCY    ADAMS 

the  records  of  mankind  are  full  of  examples  for  such  con- 
templations, it  is,  however,  a  more  profitable  employ- 
ment to  trace  the  constituent  principles  of  future  greatness 
in  their  kernel ;  to  detect  in  the  acorn  at  our  feet  the  germ 
of  that  majestic  oak,  whose  roots  shoot  down  to  the  centre, 
and  whose  branches  aspire  to  the  skies.  Let  it  be,  then, 
our  present  occupation  to  inquire  and  endeavor  to  ascer- 
tain the  causes  first  put  in  operation  at  the  period  of  our 
commemoration,  and  already  prodvictive  of  such  magnifi- 
cent effects;  to  examine  with  reiterated  care  and  minute 
attention  the  characters  of  those  men  who  gave  the  first 
impulse  to  a  new  series  of  events  in  the  history  of  the 
world ;  to  applaud  and  emulate  those  qualities  of  their 
minds  which  we  shall  find  deserving  of  our  admiration; 
to  recognize  with  candor  those  features  which  forbid  appro- 
bation or  even  require  censure,  and,  finally,  to  lay  alike 
their  frailities  and  their  perfections  to  our  own  hearts, 
either  as  warning  or  as  example. 

Of  the  various  European  settlements  upon  this  continent, 
which  have  finally  merged  in  one  independent  nation,  the 
first  establishments  were  made  at  various  times,  by  several 
nations,  and  under  the  influence  of  different  motives,  la 
many  instances,  the  conviction  of  religious  obligation 
formed  one  and  a  powerful  inducement  of  the  adventures; 
bat  in  none,  excepting  the  settlement  at  Plymouth,  did  they 
constitute  the  sole  and  exclusive  actuating  cause.  Worldly 
interest  and  commercial  speculation  entered  largely  into  the 
views  of  other  settlers,  but  the  commands  of  conscience 
were  the  only  stimulus  to  the  emigrants  from  Leyden. 
Previous  to  their  expedition  hither,  they  had  endured  a 
long  banishment  from  their  native  country.  Under  every 
species    of    discouragement,    they   undertook   the   voyage; 


OKATION    AT    PLYMOUTH  279 

they  performed  it  in  spite  of  numerous  and  almost  insuper- 
able obstacles;  they  arrived  upon  a  wilderness  bound  with 
frost  and  hoary  with  snow,  without  the  boundaries  of  their 
charter,  outcasts  from  all  human  society,  and  coasted  five 
weeks  together,  in  the  dead  of  winter,  on  this  tempestuous 
shore,  exposed  at  once  to  the  fury  of  the  elements,  to  the 
arrows  of  the  native  savage,  and  to  the  impending  horrors 
of  famine. 

Courage  and  perseverance  have  a  magical  talisman,  be- 
fore which  difficulties  disappear  and  obstacles  vanish  into 
air.  These  qualities  have  ever  been  displayed  in  their 
mightiest  perfection,  as  attendants  in  the  retinue  of  strong 
passions.  From  the  first  discovery  of  the  Western  Hemi- 
sphere by  Columbus  until  the  settlement  of  Virginia  which 
immediately  preceded  that  of  Plymouth,  the  various  adven- 
turers from  the  ancient  world  had  exhibited  upon  innumer- 
able occasions  that  ardor  of  enterprise  and  that  stubbornness 
of  pursuit  which  set  all  danger  at  defiance,  and  chained  the 
violence  of  nature  at  their  feet.  But  they  were  all  insti- 
gated by  personal  interests.  Avarice  and  ambition  had 
tuned  their  souls  to  that  pitch  of  exaltation.  Selfish  pas- 
sions were  the  parents  of  their  heroism.  It  was  reserved 
for  the  first  settlers  of  New  England  to  perform  achieve- 
ments equally  arduous,  to  trample  down  obstructions  equally 
formidable,  to  dispel  dangers  equally  terrific,  under  the 
single  inspiration  of  conscience.  To  them  even  liberty  her- 
self was  but  a  subordinate  and  secondary  consideration. 
They  claimed  exemption  from  the  mandates  of  human  au- 
thority, as  militating  with  their  subjection  to  a  superior 
power.  Before  the  voice  of  Heaven  they  silenced  even  the 
calls  of  their  country. 

Yet,   while  so  deeply  impressed  with  the  sense  of  re- 


280  JOHN    QUIXCY    ADAMS 

ligious  obligation,  they  felt,  in  all  its  energy,  the  force  of 
that  tender  tie  which  binds  the  heart  of  every  virtuous  man 
to  his  native  land.  It  was  to  renew  that  connection  with 
their  country  which  had  been  severed  by  their  compulsory 
expatriation,  that  they  resolved  to  face  all  the  hazards  of  a 
perilous  navigation  and  all  the  labors  of  a  toilsome  distant 
settlement.  Under  the  mild  protection  of  the  Batavian 
Government,  they  enjoyed  already  that  freedom  of  religious 
worship,  for  which  they  had  resigned  so  many  comforts  and 
enjoyments  at  home;  but  their  hearts  panted  for  a  restora- 
tion to  the  bosom  of  their  country.  Invited  and  urged  by 
the  open-hearted  and  truly  benevolent  people  who  had 
given  them  an  asylum  from  the  persecution  of  their  own 
kindred  to  form  their  settlement  within  the  territories  then 
under  their  jurisdiction,  the  love  of  their  country  predomi- 
nated over  every  influence  save  that  of  conscience  alone, 
and  they  preferred  the  precarious  chance  of  relaxation  from 
the  bigoted  rigor  of  the  English  Government  to  the  certain 
liberality  and  alluring  oifers  of  the  Hollanders.  Observe, 
my  countrymen,  the  generous  patriotism,  the  cordial  union 
of  soul,  the  conscious  yet  unaffected  vigor  which  beam  in 
their  application  to  the  British  monarch: 

"They  were  well  weaned  from  the  delicate  milk  of  their 
mother  country,  and  inured  to  the  difficulties  of  a  strange 
land.  They  were  knit  together  in  a  strict  and  sacred  bond, 
to  take  care  of  the  good  of  each  other  and  of  the  whole.  It 
was  not  with  them  as  with  other  men,  whom  small  things 
could  discourage,  or  small  discontents  cause  to  wish  them- 
selves again  at  home." 

Children  of  these  exalted  Pilgrims!  Is  there  one  among 
you  who  can  hear  the  simple  and  pathetic  energy  of  these 
expressions  without  tenderness  and  admiration  ?    Venerated 


ORATION    AT    PLYMOUTH  281 

shades  of  our  forefathers!  No,  ye  were,  indeed,  not  ordi- 
nary men!  That  country  which  had  ejected  you  so  cruelly 
from  her  bosom  you  still  delighted  to  contemplate  in  the 
character  of  an  affectionate  and  beloved  mother.  The 
sacred  bond  which  knit  you  together  was  indissoluble 
while  you  lived;  and  oh,  may  it  be  to  your  descendants 
the  example  and  the  pledge  of  harmony  to  the  latest  period 
of  time!  The  difficulties  and  dangers,  which  so  often  had 
defeated  attempts  of  similar  establishments,  were  unable  to 
subdue  souls  tempered  like  yours.  You  heard  the  rigid 
interdictions;  you  saw  the  menacing  forms  of  toil  and 
danger,  forbidding  your  access  to  this  land  of  promise;  but 
you  heard  without  dismay;  you  saw  and  disdained  retreat. 
Firm  and  undaunted  in  the  confidence  of  that  sacred  bond; 
conscious  of  the  purity,  and  convinced  of  the  importance  of 
your  motives,  you  put  your  trust  in  the  protecting  shield 
of  Providence,  and  smiled  defiance  at  the  combining  terrors 
of  human  malice  and  of  elemental  strife.  These,  in  the  ac- 
complishment of  your  undertaking,  you  were  summoned  to 
encounter  in  their  most  hideous  forms;  these  you  met  with 
that  fortitude,  and  combated  with  that  perseverance,  which 
you  had  promised  in  their  anticipation ;  these  you  com- 
pletely vanquished  in  establishing  the  foundations  of  New 
England,  and  the  day  which  we  now  commemorate  is  the 
perpetual  memorial  of  your  triumph. 

It  were  an  occupation  peculiarly  pleasing  to  cull  from 
our  early  historians,  and  exhibit  before  you  every  detail  of 
this  transaction;  to  carry  you  in  imagination  on  board  their 
bark  at  the  first  moment  of  her  arrival  in  the  bay;  to  accom- 
pany Carver,  Winslow,  Bradford,  and  Standish,  in  all  their 
excursions  upon  the  desolate  coast;  to  follow  them  into 
every  rivulet  and  creek  where  they  endeavored  to  find  a 


282  JOHN    QUINCY    ADAMS 

firm  footing,  and  to  fix,  with  a  pause  of  delight  and  exulta- 
tion, the  instant  when  the  first  of  these  heroic  adventurers 
alighted  on  the  spot  where  you,  their  descendants,  now 
enjoy  the  glorious  and  happy  reward  of  their  labors.  But 
in  this  grateful  task,  your  former  orators,  on  this  anniver- 
sary, have  anticipated  all  that  the  most  ardent  industry 
could  collect,  and  gratified  all  that  the  most  inquisitive 
curiosity  could  desire.  To  you,  my  friends,  every  occur- 
rence of  that  momentous  period  is  already  familiar.  A 
transient  allusion  to  a  few  characteristic  instances,  which 
mark  the  peculiar  history  of  the  Plymouth  settlers,  may 
properly  supply  the  place  of  a  narrative,  which,  to  this 
auditory,  must  be  superfluous. 

One  of  these  remarkable  incidents  "is  the  execution  of 
that  instrument  of  government  by  which  they  formed  them- 
selves into  a  body  politic,  the  day  after  their  arrival  upon 
the  coast,  and  previous  to  their  first  landing.  This  is,  per- 
haps, the  only  instance  in  human  history  of  that  positive, 
original  social  compact,  which  speculative  philosophers 
have  imagined  as  the  only  legitimate  source  of  govern- 
ment. Here  was  a  unanimous  and  personal  assent,  by  all 
the  individuals  of  the  community,  to  the  association  by 
which  they  became  a  nation.  It  was  the  result  of  circum- 
stances and  discussions  which  had  occurred  during  their 
passage  from  Europe,  and  is  a  full  demonstration  that  the 
nature  of  civil  government,  abstracted  from  the  political 
institutions  of  their  native  country,  had  been  an  object  of 
their  serious  meditation.  The  settlers  of  all  the  former 
European  colonies  had  contented  themselves  with  the 
powers  conferred  upon  them  by  their  respective  charters, 
without  looking  beyond  the  seal  of  the  royal  parchment 
for  the  measure  of  their  rights  and  the  rule  of  their  duties. 


ORATION    AT    PLYMOUTH  283 

The  founders  of  Plymouth  had  been  impelled  by  the  pecu- 
liarities of  their  situation  to  examine  the  subject  with  deeper 
and  more  comprehensive  research.  After  twelve  years  of 
banishment  from  the  land  of  their  first  allegiance,  during 
which  they  had  been  under  an  adoptive  and  temporary 
subjection  to  another  sovereign,  they  must  naturally  have 
been  led  to  reflect  upon  the  relative  rights  and  duties  of 
allegiance  and  subjection.  They  had  resided  in  a  city,  the 
seat  of  a  university,  where  the  polemical  and  political  con- 
troversies of  the  time  were  pursued  with  uncommon  fervor. 
In  this  period  they  had  witnessed  the  deadly  struggle  be- 
tween the  two  parties,  into  which  the  people  of  the  United 
Provinces,  after  their  separation  from  the  crown  of  Spain, 
had  divided  themselves.  The  contest  embraced  within  its 
compass  not  only  theological  doctrines,  but  political  prin- 
ciples, and  Maurice  and  Barnevelt  were  the  temporal  leaders 
of  the  same  rival  factions,  of  which  Episcopius  and  Poly- 
ander  were  the  ecclesiastical  champions. 

That  the  investigation  of  the  fundamental  principles  of 
government  was  deeply  implicated  in  these  dissensions  is 
evident  from  the  immortal  work  of  Grotius,  upon  the  rights 
of  war  and  peace,  which  undoubtedly  originated  from  them. 
Grotius  himself  had  been  a  most  distinguished  actor  and 
sufferer  in  those  important  scenes  of  internal  convulsion, 
and  his  work  was  first  published  very  shortly  after  the  de- 
parture of  our  forefathers  from  Ley  den.  It  is  well  known 
that  in  the  course  of  the  contest  Mr.  Kobinson  more  than 
once  appeared,  with  credit  to  himself,  as  a  public  disputant 
against  Episcopius ;  and  from  the  manner  in  which  the  fact 
is  related  by  Governor  Bradford,  it  is  apparent  that  the 
whole  English  Church  at  Leyden  took  a  zealous  interest 
in  the  religious  part  of  the  controversy.     As  strangers  in 


284  JOHN    QUINCY    ADAMS 

the  land,  it  is  presumable  that  they  wisely  and  honorably 
avoided  entangling  themselves  in  the  political  contentions 
involved  with  it.  Yet  the  theoretic  principles,  as  they  were 
drawn  into  discussion,  could  not  fail  to  arrest  their  atten- 
tion, and  must  have  assisted  them  to  form  accurate  ideas 
concerning  the  origin  and  extent  of  authority  among  men, 
independent  of  positive  institutions.  The  importance  of 
these  circumstances  will  not  be  duly  weighed  without 
taking  into  consideration  the  state  of  opinion  then  preva- 
lent in  England.  The  general  principles  of  government 
were  there  little  understood  and  less  examined.  The  whole 
substance  of  human  authority  was  centred  in  the  simple 
doctrine  of  royal  prerogative,  the  origin  of  which  was  al- 
ways traced  in  theory  to  divine  institution.  Twenty  years 
later,  the  subject  was  more  industriously  sifted,  and  for 
half  a  century  became  one  of  the  principal  topics  of  con- 
troversy between  the  ablest  and  most  enlightened  men  in 
the  nation.  The  instrument  of  voluntary  association  exe- 
cuted on  board  the  "Mayflower"  testifies  that  the  parties 
to  it  had  anticipated  the  improvement  of  tlieir  nation. 

Another  incident,  from  which  we  may  derive  occasion 
for  important  reflections,  was  the  attempt  of  these  original 
settlers  to  establish  among  them  that  com»munity  of  goods 
and  of  labor,  which  fanciful  politicians,  from  the  days  of 
Plato  to  tliose  of  Rousseau,  have  recommended  as  the 
fundamental  law  of  a  perfect  republic.  This  theory  re- 
sults, it  must  be  acknowledged,  from  principles  of  reason- 
ing most  flattering  to  the  human  character.  If  industry, 
frugality,  and  disinterested  integrity  were  alike  the  virtues 
of  all,  there  would,  apparently,  be  more  of  the  social  spirit, 
in  making  all  property  a  common  stock,  and  giving  to  each 
individual  a  proportional  title  to  the  wealth  of  the  whole. 


ORATION   AT  PI>YMOUTH  285 

Siicli  is  the  basis  upon  which  Plato  forbids,  in  his  Republic, 
the  division  of  property.  Such  is  tlie  system  upon  which 
Rousseau  pronounces  the  first  man  who  inclosed  a  field 
w-ith  a  fence,  and  said,  ''This  is  mine,"  a  traitor  to  the 
human  species.  A  wiser  and  more  useful  philosophy,  how- 
ever, directs  us  to  consider  man  accordmg  to  the  nature  in 
which  he  was  formed;  subject  to  infirmities,  which  no  wis- 
dom can  remedy ;  to  w^eaknesses,  which  no  institution  can 
strengthen ;  to  vices,  which  no  legislation  can  correct. 
Hence,  it  becomes  obvious  that  separate  property  is  the 
natural  and  indisputable  right  of  separate  exertion ;  that 
community  of  goods  without  community  of  toil  is  oppres- 
sive and  unjust ;  that  it  counteracts  the  laws  of  nature, 
which  prescribe  that  he  only  who  sows  the  seed  shall  reap 
the  harvest ;  that  it  discourages  all  energy,  by  destroying 
its  rewards ;  and  makes  the  most  virtuous  and  active  mem- 
bers of  society  the  slaves  and  drudges  of  the  worst.  Such 
was  the  issue  of  this  experiment  among  our  forefathers, 
and  the  same  event  demonstrated  the  error  of  the  system 
in  the  elder  settlement  of  Virginia.  Let  us  cherish  that 
spirit  of  harmony  which  prompted  our  forefathers  to  make 
the  attempt,  under  circumstances  more  favorable  to  its  suc- 
cess than,  perhaps,  ever  occurred  upon  earth.  Let  us  no 
less  admire  the  candor  with  which  they  relinqviished  it, 
upon  discovering  its  irremediable  inefficacy.  To  found 
principles  of  government  upon  too  advantageous  an  esti- 
mate of  the  human  character  is  an  error  of  inexperience, 
the  source  of  which  is  so  amiable  that  it  is  impossible  to 
censure  it  with  severitv.  We  have  seen  the  same  mistake 
committed  in  our  own  age,  and  upon  a  larger  theatre. 
Happily  for  our  ancestors,  their  situation  allowed  them  to 
repair  it  before  its  effects  had  proved  destructive.     They 


286  JOHN    QUINCY    ADAMS 

iad  no  pride  of  vain  philosophy  to  support,  no  perfidious 
rage  of  faction  to  glut,  by  persevering  in  their  mistakes 
until  they  should  be  extinguished  in  torrents  of  blood. 

As  the  attempt  to  establish  among  themselves  the  com- 
munity of  goods  was  a  seal  of  that  sacred  bond  which  knit 
them  so  closely  together,  so  the  conduct  they  observed 
toward  the  natives  of  the  country  displays  their  steadfast 
adherence  to  the  rules  of  justice  and  their  faithful  attach- 
ment to  those  of  benevolence  and  charity. 

No  European  settlement  ever  formed  upon  this  conti- 
nent has  been  more  distinguished  for  undeviating  kindness 
and  equity  toward  the  savages.  There  are,  indeed,  moral- 
ists who  have  questioned  the  right  of  the  Europeans  to  in- 
trude upon  the  possessions  of  the  aboriginals  in  any  case, 
and  under  any  limitations  whatsoever.  But  have  they  ma- 
turely considered  the  whole  subject?  The  Indian  right  of 
possession  itself  stands,  with  regard  to  the  greater  part 
of  the  country,  upon  a  questionable  foundation.  Their 
cultivated  fields;  their  constructed  habitations;  a  space  of 
ample  sufficiency  for  their  subsistence,  and  whatever  they 
had  annexed  to  themselves  by  personal  labor,  was  un- 
doubtedly, by  the  laws  of  nature,  theirs.  But  what  is  the 
right  of  a  huntsman  to  the  forest  of  a  thousand  miles  over 
which  he  has  accidentally  ranged  in  quest  of  prey?  Shall 
the  liberal  bounties  of  Providence  to  the  race  of  man  be 
monopolized  by  one  of  ten  thousand  for  whom  they  were 
created?  Shall  the  exuberant  bosom  of  the  common 
mother,  amply  adequate  to  the  nourishment  of  millions, 
be  claimed  exclusively  by  a  few  hundreds  of  her  offspring  7 
Shall  the  lordly  savage  not  only  disdain  the  virtues  and 
enjoyments  of  civilization  himself,  but  shall  he  control  the 
civilization  of  a  world  ?     Shall  he  forbid  the  wildernesc  to 


ORATION  AT  PLYMOUTH  287 

blossom  like  a  rose  ?  Shall  he  forbid  the  oaks  of  the  forest 
to  fall  before  the  axe  of  industry,  and  to  rise  again,  trans- 
formed into  the  habitations  of  ease  and  elegance  ?  Shall  he 
doom  an  immense  region  of  the  globe  to  perpetual  desola- 
tion, and  to  hear  the  bowlings  of  the  tiger  and  the  wolf 
silence  forever  the  voice  of  human  gladness?  Shall  the 
fields  and  the  valleys,  which  a  beneficent  God  has  formed 
to  teem  mth  the  life  of  innumerable  multitudes,  be  con- 
demned to  everlasting  barrenness  ?  Shall  the  mighty  rivers, 
poured  out  by  the  hand  of  nature,  as  channels  of  communi- 
cation between  numerous  nations,  roll  their  waters  in  sullen 
silence  and  eternal  solitude  to  the  deep?  Have  hundreds 
of  commodious  harbors,  a  thousand  leagues  of  coast,  and 
a  boundless  ocean,  been  spread  in  the  front  of  this  land, 
and  shall  every  purpose  of  utility  to  which  they  could 
apply  be  prohibited  by  the  tenant  of  the  woods?  No, 
generous  philanthropists !  Heaven  has  not  thus  been  in- 
consistent in  the  works  of  its  hands.  Heaven  has  not  thus 
placed  at  irreconcilable  strife  its  moral  laws  with  its  phys- 
ical creation.  The  Pilgrims  of  Plymouth  obtained  their 
right  of  possession  to  the  territory  on  which  they  settled, 
by  titles  as  fair  and  unequivocal  as  any  human  property 
can  be  held.  By  their  voluntary  association  they  recog- 
nized their  allegiance  to  the  government  of  Britain,  and  in 
process  of  time  received  whatever  powers  and  authorities 
could  be  conferred  upon  them  by  a  charter  from  their 
sovereign.  The  spot  on  which  they  fixed  had  belonged  to 
an  Indian  tribe,  totally  extirpated  by  that  devouring  pesti- 
lence which  had  swept  the  country  shortly  before  their 
arrival.  The  territory,  thus  free  from  all  exclusive  posses- 
sion, thev  mip-ht  have  taken  bv  the  natural  right  of  occu- 
pancy.     Desirous,  however,  of  giving  ample  satisfaction  to 


288  JOHN  QUINCV  ADAMS 

every  pretence  of  prior  right,  by  fonnal  and  solemn  con- 
ventions with  the  chiefs  of  the  neighboring  tribes,  they  ac- 
quired the  further  security  of  a  purchase.  At  their  hands 
the  children  of  the  desert  had  no  cause  of  complaint.  On 
the  great  day  of  retribution,  what  thousands,  what  millions 
of  the  American  race  will  appear  at  the  bar  of  judgment 
to  arraign  their  European  invading  conquerors !  Let  us 
humbly  hope  that  the  fathers  of  the  Plymouth  Colony  will 
then  appear  in  the  whiteness  of  innocence.  Let  us  indulge 
in  the  belief  that  they  will  not  only  be  free  from  all  accusa- 
tion of  injustice  to  these  unfortunate  sons  of  nature,  but 
that  the  testunonials  of  their  acts  of  kindness  and  benevo- 
lence toward  them  will  plead  the  cause  of  their  virtues,  as 
they  are  now  authenticated  by  the  record .  of  history  upon 
earth. 

Religious  discord  has  lost  her  sting;  the  cumbrous 
weapons  of  theological  warfare  are  antiquated;  the  field 
of  politics  supplies  the  alchemists  of  our  times  with  ma- 
terials of  more  fatal  explosion,  and  the  butchers  of  man- 
kind no  longer  travel  to  another  world  for  instruments  of 
cruelty  and  destruction.  Our  aije  is  too  enlightened  to  con- 
tend  upon  topics  which  concern  only  the  interests  of  eter- 
nity ;  the  men  who  hold  in  proper  contempt  all  controversies 
about  trifles,  except  such  as  inflame  their  own  passions, 
have  made"  it  a  commonplace  censure  against  your  ances- 
tors, that  their  zeal  was  enkindled  by  subjects  of  trivial 
importance;  and  that  however  aggrieved  bv  tlie  intolerance 
of  others,  they  were  alike  intolerant  themselves.  Against 
these  objections,  your  candid  judgment  will  not  require  an 
unqualified  justification ;  but  your  respect  and  gratitude  for 
the  founders  of  the  State  may  boldly  claim  an  ample  apol- 
ogy.    The   original  grounds  of  their  separation  from   the 


ORATION    AT    PLYMOUTH  289 

Church  of  England  were  not  objects  of  a  magnitude  to  dis- 
solve the  bonds  of  communion,  much  less  those  of  charity, 
between  Christian  brethren  of  the  same  essential  princi- 
ples. Some  of  them,  however,  were  not  inconsiderable, 
and  numerous  inducements  concurred  to  give  them  an  ex- 
traordinary interest  in  their  eyes.  When  that  portentous 
system  of  abuses,  the  Papal  dominion,  was  overturned,  a 
great  variety  of  religious  sects  arose  in  its  stead  in  the 
several  countries,  which  for  man}'^  centuries  before  had 
been  screwed  beneath  its  subjection.  The  fabric  of  the 
Reformation,  first  undertaken  in  England  upon  a  contracted 
basis,  by  a  capricious  and  sanguinary  tyrant,  had  been  suc- 
cessively overthrown  and  restored,  renewed  and  altered, 
according  to  the  varying  humors  and  principles  of  four 
successive  monarchs.  To  ascertain  the  precise  point  of 
division  between  the  genuine  institutions  of  Christianity 
and  the  corruptions  accumulated  upon  them  in  the  progress 
of  fifteen  centuries,  was  found  a  task  of  extreme  difficulty 
throughout  the  Christian  world. 

Men  of  the  proEoundest  learning,  of  the  sublimest  genius, 
and  of  the  purest  integrity,  after  devoting  their  lives  to  the 
research,  finally  differed  in  their  ideas  upon  many  great 
point?,  both  of  doctrine  and  discipline.  The  main  question, 
it  was  admitted  on  all  hands,  most  intimately  concerned  the 
highest  interests  of  man,  both  temporal  and  eternal.  Can 
we  wonder  that  men  who  felt  their  happiness  here  and  their 
hopes  of  hereafter,  tbeir  worldly  welfare  and  the  kingdom 
of  heaven  at  stake,  should  sometimes  attach  an  importance 
beyond  their  intrinsic  weight  to  collateral  points  of  contro- 
versy, connected  with  the  all-involving  object  of  the  Refor- 
mation ?  The  changes  in  the  forms  and  principles  of  relig- 
ious worship  were  introduced  and  regulated  in  England  by 

Vol.  4—19 


290  JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS 

the  hand  of  public  authority.  But  that  hand  had  not  been 
luiifonn  or  steady  in  its  operations.  During  the  persecu- 
tions inflicted  in  the  interval  of  Popish  restoration  under 
the  reign  of  Mary,  upon  all  who  favored  the  Keformation, 
many  of  the  most  zealous  reformers  had  been  compelled 
to  fly  their  country.  While  residing  on  the  continent  of 
Europe,  they  had  adopted  the  principles  of. the  most  com- 
plete and  rigorous  reformation,  as  taught  and  established 
by  Calvin.  On  returning  afterward  to  their  native  conn- 
try,  they  were  dissatisfied  with  the  partial  reformation,  at 
which,  as  they  conceived,  the  English  establishment  had 
rested;  and  claiming  the  privilege  of  private  conscience, 
upon  which  alone  any  departure  from  the  Church  of  Rome 
could  be  justified,  they  insisted  npon  the  right  of  adhering 
to  the  system  of  their  own  preference,  and,  of  course,  upon 
that  of  non-conformity  to  the  establishment  prescribed  by 
the  royal  authority.  The  only  means  used  to  convince 
them  of  error  and  reclaim  them  from  dissent  was  force, 
and  force  served  but  to  confirm  the  opposition  it  was 
meant  to  suppress.  By  driving  the  founders  of  the  Ply- 
mouth Colony  into  exile,  it  constrained  them  to  absolute 
separation  from  the  Church  of  England ;  and  by  the  refusal 
afterward  to  allow  them  a  positive  toleration,  even  in  this 
American  wilderness,  the  council  of  James  I.  rendered  that 
separation  irreconcilable.  Viewing  their  religious  liberties 
here,  as  held  only  by  sufferance,  yet  bound  to  them  by  all 
the  ties  of  conviction,  and  by  all  their  sufferings  for  them, 
could  they  forbear  to  look  upon  every  dissenter  among  them- 
selves with  a  jealous  eye?  Within  two  years  after  their 
landing,  they  beheld  a  rival  settlement  attempted  in  their 
immediate  neighborhood;  and  not  long  after,  the  laws  of 
self-preservation  compelled  them  to  break  up  a  nest  of  rev- 


ORATION'    AT    PLYMOUTH  291 

ellers,  who  boasted  of  protection  from  the  mother  country, 
and  who  had  recurred  to  the  easy  but  pernicious  resource 
of  feeding  their  wanton  idleness,  by  furnishing  the  savages 
with  the  means,  the  skill,  and  the  instruments  of  European 
destruction.  Toleration,  in  that  instance,  would  have  been 
self-murder,  and  many  other  examples  might  be  alleged,  in 
which  their  necessary  measures  of  self-defence  have  been 
exaggerated  into  cruelty,  and  their  most  indispensable  pre- 
cautions distorted  into  persecution.  Yet  shall  we  not  pre- 
tend «nat  they  were  exempt  from  the  common  laws  of  mor- 
tality, or  entirely  free  from  all  the  errors  of  their  age. 
Their  zeal  might  sometimes  be  too  ardent,  but  it  was  al- 
ways sincere.  At  this  day,  religious  indulgence  is  one 
of  our  clearest  duties,  because  it  is  one  of  our  undisputed 
rights.  While  we  rejoice  that  the  principles  of  genuine 
Christianity  have  so  far  triumphed  over  the  prejudices  of 
a  former  generation,  let  us  fervently  hope  for  the  day 
when  it  will  prove  equally  victorious  over  the  malignant 
passions  of  our  own. 

In  thus  calling  your  attention  to  some  of  the  peculiar 
features  in  the  principles,  the  character,  and  the  history 
of  our  forefathers,  it  is  as  wide  from  my  design,  as  I 
know  it  would  be  from  your  approbation,  to  adorn  their 
memory  with  a  chaplet  plucked  from  the  domain  of  oth- 
ers. The  occasion  and  the  day  are  more  peculiarly  devoted 
to  them,  and  let  it  never  be  dishonored  with  a  contracted 
and  exclusive  spirit.  Our  affections  as  citizens  embrace  the 
whole  extent  of  the  Union,  and  the  names  of  Raleigh, 
Smith,  Winthrop,  Calvert,  Penn  and  Oglethorpe  excite 
in  our  minds  recollections  equally  pleasing  and  gratitude 
equally  fervent  with  those  of  Carver  and  Bradford.  Two 
centuries  have  not  yet  elapsed  since   the  first  European 


292  JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS 

foot  touched  the  soil  which  now  constitutes  the  Ameri- 
can Union.  Two  centuries  more  and  our  numbers  must 
exceed  those  of  Europe  itself.  The  destinies  of  this  em- 
pire, as  they  appear  in  prospect  before  us,  disdain  the 
jiowers  of  human  calculation.  Yet,  as  the  original  founder 
of  the  Roman  State  is  said  once  to  have  lifted  upon  his 
shoulders  the  fame  and  fortunes  of  all  his  posterity,  so  let 
us  never  forget  that  the  glory  and  greatness  of  all  our  de- 
scendants is  in  our  hands.  Preserve  in  all  their  purity, 
refine,  if  possible,  from  all  their  alloy,  those  virtiies  vrhich 
we  this  day  commemorate  as  the  ornament  of  our  fore- 
fathers. Adhere  to  them  with  inflexible  resolution,  as  to 
the  horns  of  the  altar;  instil  them  with  unwearied  perse- 
verance into  the  minds  of  your  childreei ;  bind  your  souls 
and  theirs  to  the  national  union  as  the  chords  of  life  are 
centred  in  the  heart,  and  you  shall  soar  with  rapid  and 
steady  wdng  to  the  summit  of  human  glory.  Nearly  a 
century  ago,  one  of  those  rare  minds  to  whom  it  is  given 
to  discern  future  greatness  in  its  seminal  principles,  upon 
contemplating  the  situation  of  this  continent,  pronounced, 
in  a  vein  of  poetic  inspiration,  ^'Westward  the  star  of 
empire  takes  its  way."  Let  us  unite  in  ardent  supplica- 
tion to  the  Foimder  of  nations  and  the  Builder  of  worlds, 
that  what  then  was  ju'ophecy  may  continue  unfolding  into 
history — that  the  dearest  hopes  of  the  human  race  may  not 
be  extinguished  in  disa])pointment,  and  that  the  last  may 
prove  the  noblest  empire  of  time. 


ANDREW  JACKSON 


JNCREW  Jackson,  American  statesman  and  general,  and  seventh  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States  (1829-37),  was  born  at  the  Waxhaw  Set- 
tlement, N.  C,  March  15,  1767,  and  died  at  the  Hermitage,  near 
Nashville,  Tenn.,  June  8,  1845.  He  was  of  Scotch-Irish  parentage, 
his  father  dying  just  before  the  birth  of  his  son,  and  he  practically  had  only 
the  most  rudimentary  education,  for  his  mother,  with  two  of  his  brothers,  died 
from  hardships  sustained  during  the  Revolutionary  War.  In  the  latter  young 
Jackson  had  a  bitter  experience,  being  taken  prisoner  to  Camden  by  the  British 
when  the  'troops  overran  the  whole  of  South  Carolina.  Later  on,  he  studied 
law  in  his  native  State  and  began  to  practice  his  profession  at  Nashville,  Tenn. 
In  the  latter  State,  despite  its  then  rough,  primitive  condition,  Jackson  laid 
the  beginnings  of  his  successful  career,  becoming  in  1796-97  member  for  Con- 
gress and  United  States  Senator,  having  first  aided  in  the  framing  of  a  consti- 
tution for  Tennessee,  and  in  Congress  opposing  the  Jay  Treaty  with  England  and 
Hamilton's  financial  measures  in  "Wa-shington's  administration.  From  1798  to  1804 
he  was  judge  of  the  supreme  court  of  Tennessee,  and  in  1807  we  find  him 
attacking  Jefferson  and  championing  Aaron  Burr  when  that  wily  politician  was 
under  trial  for  treason.  With  the  year  1813,  Jackson  assumed  the  effective  role 
of  Indian  lighter,  taking  command  in  a  campaign  against  the  Creek  warriors 
who  were  then  marauding  and  massacring  in  Alabama  and  Georgia  In  the  fol- 
lowing year,  with  the  rank  of  major-general  in  the  regular  army,  he  took  part 
against  the  British  in  the  War  of  1812-14,  stormed  and  captured  Pensacola,  and 
stoutly  defended  New  Orleans  and  inflicted  a  severe  defeat  on  the  British  under 
Pakenham  (Jan.  8,  1815).  In  1817-18,  he  took  the  field  again,  this  time  against 
the  Seminoles  in  Florida  who  were  marauding  on  the  borders,  on  putting  down 
which  the  territory  was  purchased  from  Spain,  and  Jackson  was  appointed  Gov- 
ernor of  the  new  State.  In  1823,  he  was  elected  to  the  United  States  Senate, 
and  in  the  following  year  was  unsuccessful  candidate  for  the  Presidency.  In  1828, 
he  however  became  Chief  Magistrate  of  the  Nation,  as  Democratic  President,  and 
was  elected  for  a  second  term  in  1832.  "In  1828,"  observes  Professor  Hart,  "there 
was  practically  but  one  issue  —  a  personal  choice  between  John  Quincy  Adams  and 
Jackson.  Not  one  of  the  voters  knew  .Jackson's  opinions  on  the  tariff  or  internal 
improvements  —  the  only  questions  on  which  a  political  issue  could  have  been  made. 
It  was  a  strife  between  democracy  and  trailition.  A  change  of  26,000  votes  would 
have  given  to  John  Quincy  Adams  the  vote  of  Pennsylvania  and  the  election ;  but  it 
could  only  have  delayed  the  triumph  of  the  masses.  Jackson  swept  every 
southern  and  western  State,  and  received  650,000  popular  votes  against  500,000 
for  Adams."  During  his  administration  the  "spoils  system"  was  inaugurated 
in  Federal  politics,  the  bill  for  rechartering  the  United  States  Bank  was  vetoed 
and  South  Carolina's  attempt  to  nullify  Federal  statutes  was  defeated.  In  his 
relations  with  foreign  countries,  he  secured  the  payment  by  France  of  the  American 
claims  for  spoliations  on  our  commerce,  and  effected  a  settlement  of  long-standing 
disputes   with   Denmark  and   Spain. 

(293) 


'jy4  ANDREW    JACKSON 


STATE   RIGHTS  AND  FEDERAL  SOVEREIGNTY 

SECOND  INAUGURAL  ADDRESS,  DELIVERED  MARCH  4.  1833 

Fellow-  Citizens  : 

THE  will  of  the  American  people,  expressed  through 
their  unsolicited  suffrages,  calls  me  before  you  to 
pass  through  the  solemnities  preparatory  to  taking 
upon  myself  the  duties  of  President  of  the  United  States 
for  another  term.  For  their  approbation  of  my  public  con- 
duct through  a  period  which  has  not  been  without  its  diffi- 
culties, and  for  this  renewed  expression  of  their  confidence 
in  my  good  intentions,  I  am  at  a  loss  for  terms  adequate  to 
the  expression  of  my  gratitude. 

It  shall  be  displayed  to  the  extent  of  my  humble  abilities 
in  continued  efforts  so  to  administer  the  government  as  to 
preserve  their  liberty  and  promote  their  happiness. 

So  many  events  have  occurred  within  the  last  four  years 
which  have  necessarily  called  forth — sometimes  under  cir- 
cumstances the  most  delicate  and  painful — my  views  of  the 
principles  and  policy  which  ought  to  be  pursued  by  the 
general  government  that  I  need  on  this  occasion  but  allude 
to  a  few  leading  considerations  connected  with  some  of 
them. 

The  foreign  policy  adopted  by  our  government  soon 
after  the  formation  of  our  present  Constitution,  and  very 
generally  pursued  by  successive  administrations,  has  been 
crowned  with  almost  complete  success,  and  has  elevated 
our  character  among  the  nations  of  the  earth.  To  do  justice 
to  all  and  to  submit  to  wrong  from  none  has  been  during 


STATE  RIGHTS  AND  FEDERAL  SOVEREIGNTY  295 

my  administration  its  growing  maxim,  and  so  liappy  have 
been  its  results  that  we  are  not  only  at  peace  with  all  the 
w^orld,  but  have  few  causes  of  controversy,  and  those  of 
minor  importance,  remaining  unadjusted. 

In  the  domestic  policy  of  this  government,  there  arc  two 
objects  which  especially  deserve  the  attention  of  the  people 
and  their  rejiresentatives,  and  which  have  been  and  will 
continue  to  be  the  subjects  of  my  increasing  solicitude. 
They  are  the  preservation  of  the  rights  of  the  several  States 
and  the  integrity  of  the  Union. 

These  great  objects  are  necessarily  connected,  and  can 
only  be  attained  by  an  enlightened  exercise  of  the  powers 
of  each  within  its  appropriate  sphere,  in  conformity  with 
the  public  will  constitutionally  expressed.  To  this  end  it 
becomes  the  duty  of  all  to  yield  a  ready  and  patriotic  sub- 
mission to  the  laws  constitutionally  enacted,  and  thereby 
promote  and  strengthen  a  proper  confidence  in  those  institu- 
tions of  the  several  States  and  of  the  United  States  which 
the  people  themselves  have  ordained  for  their  own  gov- 
ernment. 

My  experience  in  public  concerns  and  the  observation 
of  a  life  somewhat  advanced  confirm  the  opinions  long- 
since  imbibed  bv  me,  that  the  destruction  of  our  State 
governments  or  the  annihilation  of  their  control  over  the 
local  concerns  of  the  people  would  lead  directly  to  revolu- 
tion and  anarchy,  and  finally  to  despotism  and  military 
domination.  In  proportion,  therefore,  as  the  general  gov- 
ernment encroaches  upon  the  rights  of  the  States,  in  the 
same  proportion  does  it  impair  its  own  power  and  detract 
from  its  ability  to  fulfil  the  purposes  of  its  creation. 
Solemnly  impressed  with  these  considerations,  my  country- 
men will  ever  find  me  ready  to  exercise  my  constitutional 


296  ANDREW    JACKSON 

powers  in  arresting  measures  which  may  directly  or  indi- 
rectly encroach  upon  the  rights  of  the  States  or  tend  to 
consolidate  all  political  power  in  the  general  government. 
But  of  equal,  and,  indeed,  of  incalculable  importance  is  the 
union  of  tbese  States,  and  the  sacred  duty  of  all  to  contrib- 
ute to  its  preservation  by  a  liberal  support  of  the  general 
government  in  the  exercise  of  its  just  powers.  You  have 
been  wisely  admonished  to  "accustom  yourselves  to  think 
and  speak  of  the  Union  as  of  the  palladium  of  your  political 
safety  and  prosperity,  watching  for  its  preservation  with 
jealous  anxiety,  discountenancing  whatever  may  suggest 
even  a  suspicion  that  it  can,  in  any  event,  be  abandoned, 
and  indignantly  frowning  upon  the  first  dawning  of  any 
attempt  to  alienate  any  portion  of  our  country  from  the 
rest  or  to  enfeeble  the  sacred  ties  which  now  link  together 
the  various  parts."  Without  union  our  independence  and 
liberty  would  never  have  been  achieved;  without  union 
they  never  can  be  maintained.  Divided  into  twenty-four, 
or  even  a  smaller  number,  of  separate  communities,  we 
shall  see  our  internal  trade  burdened  with  numberless 
restraints  and  exactions;  communication  between  distant 
points  and  sections  obstructed  or  cut  off;  our  sons  made 
soldiers  to  deluge  with  blood  the  fields  they  now  till  in 
peace;  the  mass  of  our  people  borne  down  and  impover- 
ished by  taxes  to  support  armies  and  navies,  and  military 
leaders  at  the  head  of  their  victorious  legions  becoming  our 
lawgivers  and  judges.  The  loss  of  liberty,  of  all  good 
government,  of  peace,  plenty,  and  happiness,  must  inevi 
tably  follow  a  dissolution  of  the  Union.  In  supporting  it, 
therefore,  we  support  all  that  is  dear  to  the  freeman  and 
the  philanthropist. 

The  time  at  which  I  stand  before  you  is  full  of  interesi. 


STATE  RIGHTS  AND  FEDERAL  SOVEREIGNTY  297 

The  eyes  of  all  nations  are  fixed  on  our  Republic.  The 
event  of  the  existing  crisis  will  be  decisive  in  the  opinion 
of  mankind  of  the  practicability  of  our  Federal  system  of 
government.  Great  is  the  stake  placed  in  our  hands ;  great 
is  the  responsibility  which  must  rest  upon  the  people  of  the 
United  States.  Let  us  realize  the  importance  of  the  attitude 
in  which  we  stand  before  the  world.  Let  us  exercise  for- 
bearance and  firmness.  Let  us  extricate  our  country  from 
the  dangers  which  surround  it,  and  learn  wisdom  from  the 
lessons  thev  inculcate. 

Deeply  impressed  with  the  truth  of  these  observations, 
and  under  the  obligation  of  that  solemn  oath  which  I  am 
about  to  take,  I  shall  continue  to  exert  all  my  faculties  to 
maintain  the  just  powers  of  the  Constitution  and  to  transmit 
unimpaired  to  posterity  the  blessings  of  our  Federal  Union. 
At  the  same  time  it  will  be  my  aim  to  inculcate  by  my  offi- 
cial acts  the  necessity  of  exercising  by  the  general  govern- 
ment those  powers  only  that  are  clearly  delegated;  to  en- 
courage simplicity  and  economy  in  the  expenditures  of  the 
government ;  to  raise  no  more  money  from  the  people  than 
may  be  requisite  for  these  objects,  and  in  a  manner  that  will 
best  promote'  the  interests  of  all  classes  of  the  community 
and  of  all  portions  of  the  Union.     Constantly  bearing  in 
mind  that  in  entering  into  society  "individuals  must  give 
up  a  share  of  liberty  to  preserve  the  rest,"  it  will  be  my 
desire  so  to  discharge  my  duties  as  to  foster  with  our  breth- 
ren in  all  parts  of  the  country  a  spirit  of  liberal  concession 
and  compromise,  and,  by  reconciling  our  fellow-citizens  to 
those  partial  sacrifices  which  they  must  unavoidably  make 
for  the  preservation  of  a  greater  good,  to  recommend  our 
invaluable  government  and   Union  to  the   confidence   and 
affections  of  the  American  people. 


298  ANDREW    JACKSON 

Finally,  it  is  my  most  fervent  prayer  to  that  Almighty 
Being  before  whom  I  now  stand,  and  who  has  kept  us  in 
his  hands  from  the  infancy  of  our  Republic  to  the  present 
day,  thai  he  will  so  overrule  all  my  intentions  and  actions 
and  inspire  the  hearts  of  my  fellow  citizens  that  we  may  be 
preserved  from  dangers  of  all  kinds  and  continue  forever  a 
united  and  happy  people. 


FAREWELL  ADDRESS 

FELLOW  CITIZENS,— Being  about  to  retire  finally 
from  public  life,  I  beg  leave  to  offer  you  my  grateful 
thanks  for  the  many  proofs  of  kindness  and  confidence 
which  I  have  received  at  your  hands.  It  has  been  my  for- 
tune, in  the  discharge  of  public  duties,  civil  and  military,  fre- 
quently to  have  found  myself  in  difficult  and  trying  situations, 
where  prompt  decision  and  energetic  action  w^ere  necessary, 
and  where  the  interests  of  the  country  required  that  high 
responsibilities  should  be  fearlessly  encountered;  and  it  is 
Avith  the  deepest  emotions  of  gratitude  that  I  acknowledge 
the  continued  and  unbroken  confidence  with  which  you  have 
sustained  me  in  cveiT  trial.  My  public  life  has  been  a  long 
one,  and  I  cannot  hope  that  it  has  at  all  times  been  free  from 
errors. 

But  I  have  the  consolation  of  knowing  that  if  mistakes  have 
been  committed  they  have  not  seriously  injured  the  country 
I  so  anxiously  endeavored  to  serve;  and  at  the  moment  when 
I  surrender  my  last  public  trust  I  leave  this  great  people 
prosperous  and  happy,  in  the  full  enjoyment  of  liberty  and 
peace,  and  honored  and  respected  by  every  nation  of  the 
world 


FAREWELL    ADDRESS  299 

Our  constitution  is  no  longer  a  doubtful  experiment;  and  at 
the  end  of  nearly  half  a  centviry  we  find  that  it  has  preserved 
unimpaired  the  liberties  of  the  people,  secured  the  rights  of 
property,  and  that  our  country  has  improved  and  is  flourishing 
beyond  any  former  example  in  the  history  of  nations. 

In  our  domestic  concerns  there  is  everything  to  encourage 
us ;  and  if  you  are  true  to  yourselves  nothing  can  impede  your 
march  to  the  highest  point  of  national  prosperity.  The  States 
which  had  so  long  been  retarded  in  their  improvement,  by  the 
Indian  tribes  residing  in  the  midst  of  them,  are  at  length 
relieved  from  the  evil ;  and  this  unhappy  race  —  the  original 
dwellers  in  our  land  —  are  now  placed  in  a  situation  where 
we  may  well  hope  that  they  will  share  in  the  blessings  of  civili- 
zation and  be  saved  from  that  degTadation  and  destruction  to 
which  they  were  rapidly  hastening  while  they  remained  in  the 
States;  and  while  the  safety  and  comfort  of  our  own  citizens 
have  been  greatly  promoted  by  their  removal,  the  philanthro- 
pist will  rejoice  that  the  remnant  of  that  ill-fated  race  has 
been  at  length  placed  beyond  the  reach  of  injury  or  oppression, 
and  that  the  paternal  care  of  the  general  government  will 
hereafter  watch  over  them  and  protect  them. 

If  we  turn  to  our  relations  with  foreign  powers  we  find  our 
condition  equally  gratifying.  Actuated  by  the  sincere  desire 
to  do  justice  to  every  nation  and  to  preserve  the  blessing  of 
peace,  our  intercourse  with  them  has  been  conducted  on  the 
part  of  this  government  in  the  spirit  of  frankness,  and  I  take 
pleasure  in  saying  that  it  has  generally  been  met  in  a  coiTe- 
sponding  temper.  Difiiculties  of  old  standing  have  been  sur- 
mounted by  friendly  discussion  and  the  mutual  desire  to  be 
just;  and  the  claims  of  our  citizens,  which  had  been  long  with- 
held, have  at  length  been  acknowledged  and  adjusted,  and 
satisfactory  arrangements  made  for  their  final  payment;  and 


oOO  ANDREW    JACKSON 

with  a  limited  and,  I  trust,  a  temporary  exception,  our 
relations  with  every  foreign  power  are  now  of  the  most 
friendly  character,  our  commerce  continually  expanding,  and 
our  flag  respected  in  every  quarter  of  the  world. 

These  cheering  and  grateful  prospects,  and  these  multiplied 
favors,  we  owe,  under  Providence,  to  the  adoption  of  the 
federal  constitution.  It  is  no  longer  a  question  whether  this 
great  country  can  remain  hapj)ily  united  and  flourish  under 
our  present  form  of  government.  Experience,  the  unerring- 
test  of  all  human  undertakings,  has  shown  the  wisdom  and 
foresight  of  those  who  framed  it ;  and  has  proved  that  in  the 
union  of  these  States  there  is  a  sure  foundation  for  the  bright- 
est hopes  of  freedom  and  for  the  happiness  of  the  people. 
At  every  hazard  and  by  every  sacrifice  this  union  must  be 
preserved. 

The  necessity  of  watching  with  jealous  anxiety  for  the 
preser\'ation  of  the  union  was  earnestly  pressed  upon  his 
fellow  citizens  by  the  Father  of  his  Country  in  his  farewell 
address.  He  has  there  told  us  that  ''  while  experience  shall 
not  have  demonstrated  its  impracticability,  there  will  always 
be  reason  to  distrust  the  patriotism  of  those  who,  in  any  quar- 
ter, may  endeavor  to  weaken  its  bonds;  "  and  he  has  cautioned 
us  in  the  strongest  terms  against  the  formation  of  parties  on 
geographical  discriminations  as  one  of  the  means  which  might 
disturb  our  union,  and  to  which  designing  men  would  be 
likely  to  resort. 

The  lessons  contained  in  this  invaluable  legacy  of  Wash- 
ington to  his  countrymen  should  be  cherished  in  the  heart 
of  every  citizen  to  the  latest  generation;  and  perhaps  at  no 
peiiod  of  time  could  they  be  more  usefully  remembered  than 
at  the  present  moment.  For  when  w'e  look  upon  the  scenes 
that  are  passing  around  us,  and  dwell  upon  the  pages  of  his 


FAREWELL    ADDRESS  301 

parting  address,  his  paternal  counsels  would  seem  to  be  not 
merely  the  offspring  of  wisdom  and  foresight,  but  the  voice  of 
prophecyforetelling  events  and  warning  us  of  the  evil  to  come. 
Forty  years  have  passed  since  that  imperishable  document  was 
given  to  his  countrymen.  The  federal  constitution  was  then 
regarded  by  him  as  an  experiment,  and  he  so  speaks  of  it  in 
his  address;  but  an  experiment  upon  the  success  of  which  the 
best  hopes  of  his  country  depended,  and  we  all  know  that  he 
was  prepared  to  lay  down  his  life,  if  necessary,  to  secure  to  it 
a  full  and  fair  trial.  The  trial  has  been  made.  It  has  suc- 
ceeded beyond  the  proudest  hopes  of  those  who  framed  it. 
Every  quarter  of  this  widely  extended  nation  has  felt  its  bless- 
ings and  shared  in  the  general  prosperity  produced  by  its 
adoption.  But  amid  this  general  prosperity  and  splendid  suc- 
cess, the  dangers  of  which  he  warned  us  are  becoming  every 
day  more  evident,  and  the  signs  of  evil  are  sufficiently  appa- 
rent to  awaken  the  deepest  anxiety  in  the  bosom  of  the  patriot. 
We  behold  systematic  efforts  publicly  made  to  sow  the  seeds 
of  discord  between  different  parts  of  the  United  States,  and  to 
place  party  divisions  directly  upon  geographical  distinctions; 
to  excite  the  South  against  the  North,  and  the  North  against 
the  South,  and  to  force  into  the  controversy  the  most  delicate 
and  exciting  topics  upon  which  it  is  impossible  that  a  large 
portion  of  the  Union  can  ever  speak  without  strong  emotions. 
Appeals,  too,  are  constantly  made  to  sectional  interests,  in 
order  to  influence  the  election  of  the  chief  magistrate,  as  if 
it  were  desired  that  he  should  favor  a  particular  quarter  of 
the  country  instead  of  fulfilling  the  duties  of  his  station  with 
impartial  justice  to  all;  and  the  possible  dissolution  of  the 
Union  has  at  length  become  an  ordinary  and  familiar  subject 
of  discussion.  Has  the  warning  voice  of  Washington  been 
forgotten?  or  have  designs  already  been  formed  to  sever  the 

imh  BIDMA  SIME  GOLLESE  LIBRARY 


302  ANDKKW    JACKSON 

Union?  Let  it  not  be  supposed  that  I  impute  to  all  of  those 
who  have  taken  an  active  part  in  these  unwise  and  unprofitable 
discussions  a  want  of  patriotism  or  of  public  virtue.  The 
honorable  feeling  of  State  pride  and  local  attachments  find  a 
place  in  the  bosoms  of  the  most  enlightened  and  pure.  But 
while  such  men  are  conscious  of  their  own  integrity  and  hon- 
esty of  purpose  they  ought  never  to  forget  that  the  citizens  of 
other  States  are  their  political  brethren;  and  that,  however 
mistaken  they  may  be  in  their  views,  the  great  body  of  them 
are  equally  honest  and  upright  with  themselves.  Mutual 
suspicions  and  reproaches  may  in  time  create  mutual  hostility, 
and  artful  and  designing  men  will  always  be  found  who  are  ready 
to  foment  these  fatal  divisions  and  to  inflame  the  natural 
jealousies  of  difi^erent  sections  of  the  country*.  The  histor)'' 
of  the  world  is  full  of  such  examples,  and  especially  the 
history  of  republics. 

"What  have  you  to  gain  by  division  and  dissension.?  Delude 
not  youi*selves  with  the  belief  that  a  breach  once  mademay  be 
afterwards  repaired.  If  the  Union  is  once  severed,  the  line  of 
separation  will  grow  wider  and  wider,  and  the  controversies 
which  are  now  debated  and  settled  in  the  halls  of  legislation 
will  then  be  tried  in  fields  of  battle  and  be  determined  by  the 
sword.  Neither  should  you  deceive  yourselves  with  the  hope 
that  the  first  line  of  separation  would  be  the  permanent  one, 
and  that  nothing  but  harmony  and  concord  would  be  found 
in  the  new  associations  formed  upon  the  dissolution  of  this 
Union.  Local  interests  would  still  be  found  there,  and 
unchastened  ambition.  And  if  the  recollection  of  common 
dangers,  in  which  the  people  of  these  United  States  stood  side 
by  side  against  the  common  foe ;  the  memory  of  victories  won 
by  their  united  valor;  the  prosperity  and  happiness  they  have 
enjoyed  under  the  present  constitution;  the  proud  name  they 


FAREWELL    ADDRESS  303 

bear  as  citizens  of  this  great  republic, — if  these  recollections 
and  proofs  of  common  interest  are  not  strong  enough  to  bind 
us  together  as  one  people,  what  tie  will  hold  this  Union  dis- 
severed? The  first  line  of  separation  would  not  last  for  a 
single  generation ;  new  fragments  would  be  torn  off ;  new  lead- 
ers would  spring  up ;  and  this  great  and  glorious  republic  would 
soon  be  broken  into  a  multitude  of  petty  States  armed  for 
mutual  aggressions,  loaded  with  taxes  to  pay  armies  and 
leaders;  seeking  aid  against  each  other  from  foreig-n  powers, 
insulted  and  trampled  upon  by  the  nations  of  Europe,  until, 
harassed  with  conflicts,  and  humbled  and  debased  in  spirit,  they 
would  be  ready  to  submit  to  the  absolute  dominion  of  any 
military  adventurer,  and  to  surrender  their  liberty  for  the 
sake  of  repose.  It  is  impossible  to  look  on  the  consequences 
that  would  inevitably  follow  the  destruction  of  this  govern- 
ment, and  not  feel  indig-nant  when  we  hear  cold  calculations 
about  the  value  of  the  Union  and  have  so  constantly  before  us 
a  line  of  conduct  so  well  calculated  to  weaken  its  ties. 

There  is  too  much  at  stake  to  allow  pride  or  passion  to 
influence  your  decision.  Never  for  a  moment  believe  that 
the  great  body  of  the  citizens  of  any  State  or  States  can  delib- 
erately intend  to  do  wrong.  They  may,  under  the  influence 
of  temporary  excitement  or  misguided  opinions,  commit  mis- 
takes; they  may  be  misled  for  a  time  by  the  suggestions  of 
self-interest;  but  in  a  community  so  enlightened  and  patriotic 
as  the  people  of  the  United  States,  argument  will  soon  make 
them  sensible  of  their  errors;  and,  when  convinced,  they  will 
be  ready  to  repair  them.  If  they  have  no  higher  or  better 
motives  to  govern  them,  they  will  at  least  perceive  that  their 
own  interest  requires  them  to  be  just  to  others  as  they  hope 
to  receive  justice  at  their  hands. 

But  in  order  to  maintain  the  Union  unimpaired  it  is  abso- 


304  ANDREW    JACKSON 

lutely  necessary  that  the  laws  passed  by  the  constituted 
authorities  should  be  faithfully  executed  in  every  part  of  the 
country,  and  that  every  good  citizen  should  at  all  times  stand 
ready  to  put  down,  \\dth  the  combined  force  of  the  nation, 
every  attempt  at  unlawful  resistance,  under  whatever  pretext 
it  may  be  made  or  whatever  shape  it  may  assume.  Uncon- 
stitutional or  oppressive  laws  may  no  doubt  be  passed  by  Con- 
gress, either  from  erroneous  views  or  the  want  of  due  consid- 
eration; if  they  are  within  reach  of  judicial  authority,  the 
remedy  is  easy  and  peaceful ;  and  if,  from  the  character  of 
the  law,  it  is  an  abuse  of  power  not  within  the  control  of  the 
judiciar}',  then  free  discussion  and  calm  appeals  to  reason  and 
to  the  justice  of  the  people  will  not  fail  to  redress  the  wrong. 
But  until  the  law  shall  be  declared  void  by  the  courts  or 
repealed  by  Congress,  no  individual  or  combination  of  indi- 
viduals can  be  justified  in  forcibly  resisting  its  execution.  It 
is  impossible  that  any  government  can  continue  to  exist  upon 
any  other  principles.  It  would  cease  to  be  a  government, 
and  be  unworthy  of  the  name,  if  it  had  not  the  power  to 
enforce  the  execution  of  its  own  laws  within  its  own  sphere  of 
action. 

It  is  true  that  cases  may  be  imagined  disclosing  such  a 
settled  purpose  of  usuipation  and  oppression  on  the  part  of 
the  government  as  would  justify  an  appeal  to  arms.  These, 
hoAvever,  are  extreme  cases,  which  we  have  no  reason  to  appre- 
hend in  a  government  where  the  power  is  in  the  hands  of  a 
patriotic  people;  and  no  citizen  who  loves  his  country  would 
iij  any  case  whatever  resort  to  forcible  resistance  unless  he 
clearly  saw  that  the  time  had  come  when  a  freeman  should 
prefer  death  to  submission ;  for  if  such  a  struggle  is  once  begun, 
and  the  fitizensof  one  section  of  the  country  be  arrayed  in  arms 
against  those  of  another    in  doubtful  conflict,  let  the  battle 


FAREWELL    ADDRESS  305 

result  as  it  may,  there  will  be  an  end  of  the  Union,  and  with 
it  an  end  of  the  hopes  of  freedom.  The  victory  of  the  injured 
would  not  secure  to  them  the  blessings  of  liberty;  it  would 
avenge  their  wrongs,  but  they  would  themselves  share  in  the 
common  ruin. 

But  the  constitution  cannot  be  maintained,  nor  the  Union 
preserved,  in  opposition  to  public  feeling,  by  the  mere  exertion 
of  the  coercive  powers  confided  to  the  general  government. 
The  foundations  must  be  laid  in  the  affections  of  the  people; 
in  the  security  it  gives  to  life,  liberty,  character,  and  property, 
in  every  quarter  of  the  country;  and  in  the  fraternal  attach- 
ments which  the  citizens  of  the  several  States  bear  to  one 
another,  as  members  of  one  political  family  mutually  con- 
tributing to  promote  the  happiness  of  each  other.  Hence  the 
citizens  of  every  State  should  studiously  avoid  everything 
calculated  to  wound  the  sensibility  or  offend  the  just  pride 
of  the  people  of  other  States;  and  they  should  frown  upon  any 
proceedings  within  their  own  borders  likely  to  disturb  the 
tranquillity  of  their  political  brethren  in  other  portions  of  the 
Union.  In  a  country  so  extensive  as  the  United  States,  and 
with  pursuits  so  varied,  the  internal  regulations  of  the  several 
States  must  frequently  differ  from  one  another  in  important 
particulars;  and  this  difference  is  unavoidably  increased  by  the 
varying  principles  upon  which  the  American  colonies  were 
originally  planted;  principles  which  had  taken  deep  root  in 
their  social  relations  before  the  Revolution,  and  therefore,  of 
necessity,  influencing  their  policy  since  they  became  free  and 
independent  States.  But  each  State  has  the  unquestionable 
right  to  regulate  its  own  internal  concerns  according  to  its 
own  pleasure;  and  while  it  does  not  interfere  with  the  rights 
of  the  people  of  other  States,  or  the  rights  of  the  Union,  every 
State  must  be  the  sole  judge  of  that  measure  proper  to  secure 

VoL  4—20 


300  ANDREW    JACKSON 

the  safety  of  its  citizens  and  promote  their  happiness;  and  all 
efforts  on  the  part  of  the  people  of  other  States  to  cast  odium 
upon  their  institutions,  and  all  measures  calculated  to  disturb 
their  rights  of  property,  or  to  put  in  jeopardy  their  peace  and 
internal  tranquillity,  are  in  direct  opposition  to  the  spirit  in 
which  the  Union  was  formed,  and  must  endanger  its  safety. 
Motives  of  philanthropy  may  be  assigned  for  tliis  unwarrant- 
able interference;  and  weak  men  may  persuade  themselves  for 
a  moment  that  they  are  laboring  in  the  cause  of  humanity  and 
asserting  the  rights  of  the  human  race;  but  every  one,  upon 
sober  reflection,  will  see  that  nothing  but  mischief  can  come 
from  these  improper  assaults  upon  the  feelings  and  rights  of 
others.  Rest  assured  that  the  men  found  busy  in  this  work 
of  discord  are  not  worthy  of  your  confidence  and  deserve  your 
strongest  reprobation. 

In  the  legislation  of  Congress,  also,  and  in  every  measure 
of  the  general  government,  justice  to  every  portion  of  the 
United  States  should  be  faithfully  observed.  No  free  gov- 
ernment can  stand  without  virtue  in.  the  people  and  a  lofty 
spirit  of  patriotism;  and  if  the  sordid  feelings  of  mere  selfish- 
ness shall  usui*p  the  place  which  ought  to  be  filled  by  public 
spirit,  the  legislation  of  Congress  will  soon  be  converted  into 
a  scramble  for  personal  and  sectional  advantages.  Under  our 
free  institutions  the  citizens  in  every  quarter  of  our  country 
are  capable  of  attaining  a  high  degree  of  prosperity  and  happi- 
ness ^vithout  seeking  to  profit  themselves  at  the  expense  of 
others ;  and  every  such  attempt  must  in  the  end  fail  to  succeed, 
for  the  people  in  every  part  of  the  United  Stat€s  are  too 
enlightened  not  to  understand  their  own  rights  and  interests, 
and  to  detect  and  defeat  every  effort  to  gain  undue  advantages 
over  them;  and  when  such  designs  are  discovered,  it  naturally 
provokes  resentments  which  cannot  be  always  allayed.     Justice, 


FAREWELL    ADDRESS  307 

full  and  ample  justice,  to  every  portion  of  the  United  States, 
should  be  the  ruling-  principle  of  every  freeman,  and  should 
guide  the  deliberations  of  every  public  body,  whether  it  be 
State  or  national.   .  .  . 

While  I  am  thus  endeavoring  to  press  upon  your  atten- 
tion the  principles  which  I  deem  of  vital  importance  to  the 
domestic  concerns  of  the  cou.ntr)',  I  ought  not  to  pass  over 
without  notice  the  important  considerations  which  should 
govern  your  policy  toward  foreign  powers.  It  is  unquestion- 
ably our  true  interest  to  cultivate  the  most  friendly  under- 
standing with  every  nation,  and  to  avoid,  by  every  honorable 
means,  the  calamities  of  war;  and  we  shall  best  attain  that 
object  by  frankness  and  sincerity  in  our  foreign  intercourse, 
by  the  prompt  and  faithful  execution  of  treaties,  and  by  jus- 
tice and  impartiality  in  our  conduct  to  all.  But  no  nation, 
however  desirous  of  peace,  can  hope  to  escape  collisions  wdth 
other  powers;  and  the  soundest  dictates  of  policy  require  that 
we  should  place  ourselves  in  a  condition  to  assert  our  rights 
if  a  resort  to  force  should  ever  become  necessary.  Our  local 
situation,  our  long  line  of  seacoast,  indented  by  numerous 
bays,  with  deep  rivers  opening  into  the  interior,  as  well  as 
her  extended  and  still  increasing  commerce,  point  to  the  navy 
as  our  natural  means  of  defence.  It  mil,  in  the  end,  be  found 
to  be  the  cheapest  and  most  effectual;  and  now  is  the  time, 
in  a  season  of  peace,  and  with  an  overflowing  revenue,  that 
we  can  year  after  year  add  to  its  strength  without  increasing 
the  burdens  of  the  people.  It  is  your  true  policy.  For  your 
navy  will  not  only  protect  your  rich  and  flourishing  commerce 
in  distant  seas,  but  enable  you  to  reach  and  annoy  the  enemy, 
and  wall  give  to  defence  its  greatest  efficiency  by  meeting 
danger  at  a  distance  from  home.  It  is  impossible  by  any  line 
of  fortifications  to  guard  every  point  from  attack  against  a 


J?08  ANDREW    JACKSON 

hostile  force  advancing  from  the  ocean  and  selecting  its 
object;  but  they  are  indispensable  to  prevent  cities  from 
bombardment;  dock-yards  and  navy  arsenals  from  destruction; 
to  give  shelter  to  merchant  vessels  in  time  of  war,  and  to  single 
ships  of  weaker  squadrons  when  pressed  by  superior  force. 
Fortifications  of  this  description  cannot  be  too  soon  completed 
and  armed  and  placed  in  a  condition  of  the  most  perfect 
preparation.  The  abundant  means  we  now  possess  cannot  be 
applied  in  any  manner  more  useful  to  the  country;  and  when 
this  is  done,  and  our  naval  force  sufficiently  strengthened,  and 
our  military  armed,  we  need  not  fear  that  any  nation  will 
wantonly  insult  us  or  needlessly  provoke  hostilities.  AVe  shall 
more  certainly  preserve  peace  when  it  is  well  understood  that 
we  are  prepared  for  war. 

In  presenting  to  you,  my  fellow  citizens,  these  parting 
counsels,  I  have  brought  before  you  the  leading  principles 
upon  which  I  endeavored  to  administer  the  government  in  the 
high  office  Avith  which  you  twice  honored  me.  Knowing  that 
the  path  of  freedom  is  continually  beset  by  enemies,  who  often 
assume  the  disguise  of  friends,  I  have  devoted  the  last  hours 
of  my  public  life  to  warn  you  of  the  dangers.  The  progress 
of  the  United  States,  under  our  free  and  happy  institutions, 
has  surpassed  the  most  sanguine  hopes  of  the  founders  of  the 
republic.  Our  gro^vth  has  been  rapid  beyond  all  former 
example,  in  numbers,  in  wealth,  in  knowledge,  and  all  the 
useful  arts  which  contribute  to  the  comforts  and  convenience 
of  man;  and  from  the  earliest  ages  of  history  to  the  present 
day  there  never  have  been  thirteen  millions  of  people  asso- 
ciated together  in  one  political  body,  who  enjoyed  so  much 
freedom  and  happiness  as  the  people  of  these  United  States. 
You  have  no  longer  any  cause  to  fear  danger  from  abroad; 
your  strength  and  power  are  well  known  throughout  the  civil- 


FAREWELL    ADDRESS  309 

ized  world,  as  well  as  the  high  and  gallant  bearing  of  your 
sons.  It  is  from  within,  among  yourselves,  from  cupidity, 
from  corruption,  from  disappointed  ambition,  and  inordinate 
thirst  for  power,  that  factions  will  be  formed  and  liberty 
endangered.  It  is  against  such  designs,  whatever  disguise  the 
actors  may  assume,  that  you  have  especially  to  guard  your- 
selves. You  have  the  highest  of  human  trusts  committed  to 
your  care.  Providence  has  showered  on  this  favored  land 
blessings  mthout  number,  and  has  chosen  you,  as  the  guar- 
dians of  freedom,  to  preserve  it  for  the  benefit  of  the  human 
race.  Mav  he  who  holds  in  his  hands  the  destinies  of 
nations  make  you  worthy  of  the  favors  he  has  bestowed,  and 
enable  you,  with  pure  hearts,  and  pure  hands,  and  sleepless 
vigilance,  to  guard  and  defend  to  the  end  of  time  the  great 
charge  he  has  committed  to  your  keeping. 

My  own  race  is  nearly  run;  advanced  age  and  failing 
health  warn  me  that  before  long  I  must  pass  beyond  the 
reach  of  human  events  and  cease  to  feel  the  vicissitudes  of 
human  affairs.  I  thank  God  that  my  life  has  been  spent 
in  a  land  of  liberty,  and  that  he  has  given  me  a  heart  to 
love  my  country  with  the  affection  of  a  son.  And  filled 
with  gratitude  for  your  constant  and  unwavering  kindness, 
I  bid  you  a  last  and  affectionate  farewell. 


CHATEAUBRIAND 


litANfois  Rene  Auguste,  Viscount  Chateaubriand,'  French  states- 
man,  rhetorician,  and  author,  v/a.s  born  at  St.  Malo,  Brittany,  Sept. 
14,  17(>8,  ami  died  at  Paris,  July  4,  1848.  Alter  an  education  at 
Dol  and  Kennes,  and  turninj^  from  the  Church  to  which  he  had 
lieeii  destined,  he  entered  the  army;  l)Ut  at  the  outbreak  of  th*  Revolution  he 
left  the  service,  intendinj;  at  first  to  ])roceed  to  India,  hut  changed  his  mind 
and  sought  the  New  World  instead.  Here  he  first  thought  ot  engaging  in  that 
will  o'  the  wisp,  a  Northwest  passage,  but  turned  aside  into  the  then  wilds  of 
Canada  and  lived  among  the  Indians  -  his  experience  during  which  he  after- 
ward wove  into  the  romantic  idyll  of  "Atala."  Returning  to  France  from  his 
travels  in  America,  he  found  his  country  in  the  throes  of  revolution,  and  his 
King  sent  to  the  guillotine.  He  therefore  joined  the  ranks  of  the  emigres  and 
settled  for  a  time  in  obscurity  in  England.  In  1797,  appeared  his  "Essay  on 
Revolutions,"  which  he  subsequently  recanted  having  written,  and  in  which  he 
takes  the  ground  of  ''mediator  between  royalist  and  revolutionary  ideas,"  mani- 
fests himself  as  a  freethinker  in  religion,  and  in  philosophy  "imbued  with  the 
spirit  of  Rousseau."  A  change  in  his  religious  views  was,  however,  to  follow 
the  death  of  his  mother  and  his  return  to  France,  where  in  1801  "Atala"  was 
published,  for  on  the  heels  of  that  work  appeared  the  author's  "Genius  of 
Christianity,"  on  the  eve  of  Napoleon's  reestabli,shment  of  the  Christian  religion, 
for  which  Chateaubriand's  essay  would  seem  opportunely  to  have  prepared  the 
way.  The  success  of  that  work  was  great  and  immediate,  for  it  was  written 
with  great  charm  of  style,  and  presented  Christianity  in  brilliant  though  poetic 
colors.  Napoleon's  appreciation  was  extended  personally  to  the  author,  whom  he 
appointed  secretary  to  the  French  embassy  at  Rome  and  later  minister  pleni- 
potentiary to  the  republic  of  the  Canton  of  Valais,  a  post  which  he  resigned, 
however,  on  the  execution  in  1804  of  the  Duke  d'Enghien.  Subsequently,  he 
set  out  on  a  pilgrimage  through  the  Holy  Land,  the  fruit  of  which  appeared 
later  in  his  "Itinerary  of  Travel,"  most  picturesquely  written,  and  in  his  prose 
epic,  "The  Martyrs,"  also  a  tale  entitled  "The  Last  of  the  Abencerrages,"  com- 
posed amid  the  ruins  of  the  Alhambra.  Returning  to  France,  he  henceforth 
employed  himself  in  politics  and  in  the  writing  of  a  brochure,  entitled  "Bona- 
parte and  the  Bourbons."  This  was  issued  in  1814,  when  Napoleon  was  almost 
at  the  end  of  his  phenomenal  career,  and  the  Restoration  of  the  Monarchy  was 
about  to  be  accomplished.  So  timely  was  the  issue  of  the  work  and  so  earnest 
was  his  support  of^  the  Bourbons,  that  Louis  XVIII  declared  the  essay  to  have 
been  worth  to  him  the  equivalent  of  100,000  men.  Its  writer  was  gratefully  given 
place  at  the  council-board  of  the  restored  monarch,  and  became  successively 
ambassador  at  Berlin,  and  at  London,  delegate  to  the  Congress  of  Verona  (1822), 
and  Minister  of  F'oreign  Affairs  (1822-24).  He  had  previously  been  elected  a 
(310) 


GOVERNMENT     INTERVENTION  311 

member  of  the  French  Academy  and  created  a  Peer  of  France.  Meanwhile, 'the 
revolution  of  1830  occurred,  and  Chateaubriand  showing  his  legitimist  leanings, 
refused  to  take  the  oath  to  Louis  Philippe,  and  thus  lost  his  pension  and  his 
peerage,  and  retired  to  a  rather  moody  and  impoverished  life,  brightened  only 
by  the  society  of  Beranger  and  Madame  R^caniier.  To  the  day  of  his  death  he 
continued  to  be  half-republican,  half-royalist,  always  a  man  of  sentiment  rather 
than  of  intelligible  principle.  "In  France,"  observes  a  writer,  "  he  is  significant 
as  marking  the  transition  from  the  old  classical  to  the  modern  romantic  school. 
He  [belongs  to  the  latter  by  the  idiosyncrasy  of  his  genius,  to  the  former  by 
the  comparative  severity  of  his  taste.  .  .  .  His  palette,  always  brilliant,  is 
never   gaudy;   he   is   not    merclj"   a   p;iintcr,  Imt    an    artist." 

GOVERNMENT   INTERVENTION 

I  SHALL  at  once  set  aside  the  personal  objections,  for 
private  feelings  must  have  no  place  here.  I  have  no 
reply  to  make  to  mutilated  pieces,  printed  by  means 
unknown  to  me  in  foreign  gazettes.  I  commenced  my 
ministerial  career  with  the  honorable  member  who  spoke 
last,  during  the  Hundred  Days,  when  we  each  had  a  port- 
folio ad  interim^  he  at  Paris  and  I  at  Ghent.  I  was  then 
writing  a  romance;  he  was  employed  on  history;  I  still  ad- 
here to  romance. 

I  am  about  to  examine  the  series  of  objections  presented 
at  this  tribune.  These  are  numerous  and  diversified;  but 
that  I  may  not  go  astray  in  so  vast  a  field,  1  shall  arrange 
them  under  different  heads. 

Let  us  first  examine  the  question  of  intervention.  Has 
one  government  a  right  to  intervene  in  the  internal  affairs 
of  another  government  ?  This  great  qiiestion  of  public 
right  has  been  resolved  in  opposite  ways;  those  who  have 
connected  it  with  natural  law,  as  Bacon,  Puffendorf,  Gro- 
tius,  and  all  the  ancients,  are  of  opinion  that  it  is  permitted 
to  take  up  arms,  in  the  name  of  human  society,  against  a 
people  who  violate  the  principles  upon  which  general  order 


312  FRAN<;OIS    REN:6,    VICOMTE    DE    CHATEAUBRIAND 

is  based,  in  the  same  manner  as  in  private  life  we  punish 
common  disturbers  of  the  peace.  Those  who  look  upon  the 
question  as  a  point  of  civil  law  maintain,  on  the  contrary, 
that  one  government  has  no  right  to  intervene  in  the  affairs 
of  another  government.  Thus,  the  former  place  the  right  of 
intervention  in  our  duties,  and  the  latter  in  our  interests. 

Gentlemen,  I  adopt  the  principle  laid  down  by  the  civil 
law;  I  take  the  side  of  modern  politicians,  and  I  say  with 
them,  no  government  has  a  right  to  intervene  in  the  inter- 
nal affairs  of  another  government.  In  fact,  if  this  principle 
were  not  admitted,  and  especially  by  peoples  who  enjoy  a 
free  constitution,  no  nation  could  be  free  on  its  own  soil; 
for  the  corruption  of  a  minister,  or  the  ambition  of  a  king, 
would  be  sufficient  to  occasion  an  attack  upon  any  state 
which  should  endeavor  to  improve  its  condition.  To  the 
various  causes  of  war,  already  too  numerous,  you  would 
thereby  add  a  perpetual  principle  of  hostility,  a  principle 
of  which  every  man  in  possession  of  power  would  be  the 
judge,  because  he  would  always  have  the  right  of  saying 
to  his  neighbors:  "Your  institutions  displease  me;  change 
them,  or  I  shall  declare  war  against  you." 

I  hope  my  honorable  opponents  will  acknowledge  that 
I  explain  myself  frankly.  But  in  presenting  myself  in  this 
tribune  to  maintain  the  justice  of  our  intervention  in  the 
affairs  of  Spain,  how  am  I  to  escape  from  the  principle 
which  I  myself  have  enounced  ?     You  shall  see,  gentlemen. 

When  modern  politicians  had  rejected  the  right  of  inter- 
vention, by  (quitting  the  natural,  to  place  themselves  within 
the  civil  law,  they  found  themselves  very  much  embar- 
rassed. Cases  occurred  in  which  it  was  impossible  to  ab- 
stain from  intervention  without  putting  the  state  in  danger. 
At  the  commencement  of  the  Revolution  it  was  said:  "Let 


GOVERNMENT     INTERVENTION  313 

the  colonies  perisli  rather  than  a  principle!"  and  the  col- 
onies accordingly  perished.  Was  it  right  to  say  also:  "Let 
social  order  perish  rather  than  a  principle?"  That  they 
might  not  be  wrecked  against  the  very  rule  they  had  es- 
tablished, they  had  recourse  to  an  exception,  by  means  of 
which  they  returned  to  the  natural  law,  and  said:  "No 
government  has  a  right  to  intervene  in  the  internal  affairs 
of  a  nation,  unless  in  such  a  case  as  may  compromise  the 
immediate  safety  and  essential  interests  of  that  govern- 
ment." I  shall  presently  quote  the  authority  from  which 
I  borrow  these  words. 

The  exception,  gentlemen,  does  not  appear  to  me  more 
questionable  than  the  rule ;  no  state  can  allow  its  essential 
interests  to  perish,  under  the  penalty  of  perishing  itself  as 
a  state.  Having  reached  this  point  of  the  question,  the 
whole  face  of  it  is  changed — we  find  ourselves  altogether 
upon  different  ground.  I  am  no  longer  bound  to  contest 
the  rule,  but  to  prove  that  the  case  of  exception  has  oc- 
curred for  France. 

Before  I  adduce  the  motives  which  justify  your  inter- 
vention in  the  affairs  of  Spain,  I  ought  first,  gentlemen,  to 
support  my  statement  on  the  authority  of  examples.  I 
shall  frequently  have  occasion  in  the  course  of  my  speech 
to  speak  of  England,  since  my  honorable  opponents  quote 
it  every  moment  against  us/  in  their  extempore,  as  well  as 
in  their  written  and  printed  speeches.  It  was  Great  Britain 
alone  who  defended  these  principles  at  Verona,  and  it  is  she 
alone  who  now  rises  against  the  right  of  intervention ;  it  is 
she  who  is  ready  to  take  up  arms  for  the  cause  of  a  free 
people;  it  is  she  that  reproves  an  impious  war,  hostile  to 
the  rights  of  man — a  war  which  a  little  bigoted  and  servile 
faction  wishes  to  undertake,  to  return  on  its  conclusion  to 


314  FRAN(;ois  ren:^,  vicomte  de  Chateaubriand 

bum  the  French  charter,  after  having  rent  to  pieces  the 
Spanish  constitution.  Is  not  that  it,  gentlemen  ?  We  shall 
return  to  all  these  points;  but  first  let  us  speak  of  the  in- 
tervention. 

I  fear  that  my  honorable  opponents  have  made  a  bad 
choice  of  their  authority.  England,  say  they,  has  set  us 
a  great  example  by  protecting  the  independence  of  nations. 
Let  England,  safe  amid  her  waves,  and  defended  by  ancient 
institutions — let  England — which  has  not  suffered  either  the 
disasters  of  two  invasions  or  the  disorders  of  a  thirty  years' 
revolution — think  that  she  has  nothing  to  fear  from  Spain, 
and  feel  averse  to  intervene  in  her  affairs,  nothing  certainly 
can  be  more  natrual ;  but  does  it  follow  that  France  enjoys 
the  same  security,  and  is  in  the  same  position?  When, 
under  other  circumstances,  the  essential  interests  of  Great 
Britain  have  been  compromised,  did  she  not  for  her  o"\\ti 
safety,  and  very  justly  without  doubt,  derogate  from  the 
principles  which  are  now  invoked  in  lier  name? 

England,  on  going  to  war  with  France,  promulgated, 
in  the  month  of  November,  1793,  the  famous  declaration 
of  Whitehall.  Permit  me,  gentlemen,  to  read  a  passage  of 
it  for  you.  The  document  commences  by  recalling  the 
calamities  of  the  Revolution,  and  then  adds-: 

''The  intentions  set  forth  of  reforminii-  the  abuses  of  the 
P'rench  government,  of  establishing  upon  a  solid  basis  per- 
sonal liberty  and  the  rights  of  property,  of  securing  to  a 
numerous  people  a  wise  legislation,  an  administration,  and 
just  and  moderate  laws — all  these  salutary  Wews  have  un- 
happily disappeared ;  they  have  given  place  to  a  system 
destructive  of  all  public  order,  maintained  by  proscriptions, 
by  banishment,  by  confiscations  without  number,  by  arbi- 
trary imprisonment  and  by  massacres,  the  memory  of  which 
is  frightful.     The  inhabitants  of  this  unhappy  country,  so 


GOVERNMENT  INTERVENTION  315 

long  deceived  by  ])romises  of  happiness,  always  renewed  at 
the  epoch  of  every  fresh  crime,  have  been  phinged  into  an 
abyss  of  calamities  mthout  example. 

"This  state  of  affairs  cannot  subsist  in  France,  without 
implicating  in  one  common  danger  all  the  neighboring 
powers,  without  givmg  them  the  right,  without  imposing 
upon  them  the  duty  of  arresting  the  progress  of  an  evil 
which  only  exists  by  the  successive  violation  of  all  laws 
and  every  sense  of  propriety,  and  by  the  subversion  of  the 
fundamental  principles  which  imite  men,  by  the  ties  of 
social  life.  His  Majesty  certainly  does  not  mean  to  dis- 
pute with  France  the  right  of  reforming  its  laws ;  he  would 
never  wish  to  influence  by  external  force  the  mode  of  gov- 
ernment of  an  independent  state :  nor  does  he  desire  it  now 
but  in  so  far  as  this  object  has  become  essential  to  the  peace 
and  security  of  other  powers.  Under  these  circumstances 
he  demands  of  France,  and  his  demand  is  based  upon  a 
just  title,  the  termination  at  length  of  a  system  of  anarchy 
which  is  only  powerful  in  doing  wrong,  incapable  of  fulfill- 
ing toward  the  French  people  the  first  duty  of  government, 
to  repress  the  disturbances  and  to  punish  the  crimes  which 
daily  multiply  in  the  interior  of  the  country;  but,  on  the 
contrary,  disposmg  in  an  arbitrary  manner  of  their  lives  and 
property,  to  disturb  the  peace  of  other  nations,  and  to  make 
all  Europe  the  theatre  of  similar  crimes  and  like  calamities. 
He  demands  of  France  the  establishment  of  a  stable  and 
legitimate  government,  founded  on  the  recognized  prin- 
ciples of  universal  justice,  and  calculated  to  maintam  with 
other  nations  the  customary  relations  of  union  and  of  peace. 
The  king,  on  his  part,  promises  beforehand  a  suspension  of 
hostilities ;  friendship  in  so  far  as  he  may  be  permitted  by 
events  which  are  not  at  the  disposal  of  the  human  will ;  and 
safety  and  protection  to  all  those  who,  declaring  themselves 
for  a  monarchical  government,  shall  withdraw  themselves 
from  the  despotism  of  an  anarchy  which  has  broken  all 
the  most  sacred  ties  of  society,  rent  asunder  all  the  rela- 
tions of  civil  life,  violated  all  rights,  confounded  all  duties; 


816  FRANCOIS    REN:^,    VICOMTE    DK   CHATEAUBRIAND 

availing  itself  of  the  name  of  liberty  to  exercise  the  most 
cruel  tyranny,  to  annihilate  all  property,  to  seize  upon  all 
estates,  founding  its  power  on  the  pretended  consent  of  the 
people,  and  ruining  whole  provinces  with  fire  and  sword,  for 
having  reclaimed  their  laws,  their  religion,  and  their  legiti- 
mate sovereign!" 

Well,  gentlemen,  what  think  you  of  this  declara- 
tion? Did  you  not  imagine  that  you  were  listening  to 
the  very  speech  pronounced  by  the  king  at  the  opening 
of  the  present  session;  but  that  speech  developed,  ex- 
plained, and  commented  upon  with  equal  force  and  elo- 
quence? England  says  she  acts  in  concert  with  her  allies, 
and  we  should  be  thought  criminal  in  also  having  allies  I 
England  promises  assistance  to  French  royalists,  and  it 
would  be  taken  ill  if  we  were  to  protect  Spanish  royal- 
ists! England  maintains  that  she  has  the  right  of  inter- 
vening to  save  herself  and  Europe  from  the  evils  that  aie 
desolating  France,  and  we  are  to  be  interdicted  from  de- 
fending ourselves  from  the  Spanish  contagion!  England 
rejects  the  pretended  consent  of  the  French  people;  she 
imposes  upon  France,  as  the  price  of  peace,  the  condition 
of  establishing  a  government  founded  on  the  principles  ot 
justice,  and  calculated  to  maintain  the  customary  relations 
with  other  states,  and  we  are  to  be  compelled  to  recognize 
the  pretended  sovereignty  of  the  people,  the  legality  of  a 
constitution  established  by  a  military  revolt,  and  we  are 
not  to  have  the  right  of  demanding  from  Spain,  for  our  se- 
curity, institutions  legalized  by  the  freedom  of  Ferdinand! 

We  must,  however,  be  just:  when  England  published 
this  famous  declaration,  Marie  Antoinette  and  Louis  XVI. 
were  no  more.  1  acknowledge  that  Marie  Josephine  is,  as 
yet,  only  a  captive,  and  that  nothing  has  yet  been  shed  but 


GOVKKNMBNT    INTEBVENTION  317 

er  tears ;  Ferdinand,  also,  is  at  present  only  a  prisoner  in 
lis  palace,  as  Louis  XVI.  was  in  his,  before  he  went  to  the 
Temple  and  thence  to  the  scaffold.  I  do  not  wish  to  calum- 
niate the  Spaniards,  but  neither  do  I  wish  to  estimate  them 
more  highly  than  my  own  countrymen.  Revolutionary 
France  produced  a  Convention,  and  why  should  not  rev- 
olutionary Spain  produce  one  also  ?  Shall  I  be  told  that 
by  accelerating  the  movement  of  intervention  we  shall 
make  the  position  of  the  monarch  more  perilous  ?  But 
did  England  save  Louis  XVI.  by  refusing  to  declare  her- 
self ?  Is  not  the  intervention  which  prevents  the  evil  more 
useful  than  that  by  which  it  is  avenged  ?  Spain  had  a  dip- 
lomatic agent  at  Paris  at  the  period  of  the  celebrated  catas- 
trophe, and  his  prayers  could  obtain  nothing.  What  was 
this  family  witness  doing  there  ?  He  was  certainly  not  re- 
quired to  authenticate  a  death  that  v,^as  known  to  earth  and 
heaven.  Gentlemen,  the  trials  of  Charles  I.  and  of  Louis 
XVI.  are  already  too  much  for  the  world,  but  another  judi- 
cial murder  would  establish,  on  the  authority  of  precedents, 
a  sort  of  criminal  right  and  a  body  of  jurisprudence  for  the 
n^e  of  subjects  against  their  kings. 


DE  WITT  CLINTON 


.ffs'r'jj  Witt  Clinton,  an  American  lawyer  and  statesman,  was  born  at  Little 


Britain,  Orange  Co.,  N.  Y.,  March  2,  1769,  and  died  at  Albany,  N.  Y., 
Feb.  11,  1828.  He  was  the  son  of  General  James  Clinton,  and  was  edu- 
cated at  Columbia  Collejje  and  admitted  to  the  Bar  in  1788,  Entering 
upon  public  life  as  an  anti-Federalist,  and  after  serving  in  both  houses  of  tlie  State 
legislature,  he  became  a  United  States  Senator  from  New  York  in  1802.  He  was  one  of 
the  most  popular  men  in  New  York  City  and  served  as  its  mayor,  with  two  brief  inter- 
missions, during  the  years  1803  and  181,").  Clinton  was  opposed  to  the  second  war  with 
England,  and  was  nominated  for  the  presidency  in  1812  by  the  Republican  members  of 
the  New  York  legislature,  but  was  defeated.  In  1815,  he  presented  to  the  legislature 
a  memorial  ably  urging  the  construction  of  the  Erie  Canal,  the  bill  for  which  was  passed 
in  1817.  The  promotion  of  this  enterprise,  in  spite  of  the  opposition  of  those  who 
deemed  the  scheme  visionary,  constitutes  his  title  to  remembrance.  Clinton  was  gov- 
ernor of  New  York  from  1817  to  1823,  and  was  again  chosen  govenior  in  1825,  signal- 
izing his  terms  of  office  by  constant  efforts  for  general  education  and  the  advancement 
of  science.  When  the  Erie  Canal  was  formally  opened,  in  1825,  the  governor  was  con- 
veyed in  a  barge  along  its  length,  with  great  state  and  ceremony,  and  amid  the  re- 
joicings of  the  thousands  of  people  gathered  on  its  banks.  His  published  writings 
include  "Memoir  on  the  Antiquities  of  Western  New  York"  (1818);  "Letters  on  the 
Natural  History  and  Internal  Resources  of  New  York"  (1822);  "Speeches  to  the 
Legislature  "  (1823),  besides  a  number  of  literary  and  historical  addresses.  His  per- 
sonal appearance  is  described  as  being  "  tall  and  well-formed,  of  majestic  presence,  and 
dignified  manners." 

PHI   BETA   KAPPA   ADDRESS 

DELIVERED  AT  SCHENECTADY,  JULY  22,  182? 

ME.  PRESIDENT  AND  GENTLEMEN  OF  THE 
SOCIETY, — In  accepting  the  honor  of  your  re- 
newed invitations  to  appear  at  this  place,  I  have 
not  been  insensible  of  your  kind  preference;  and  when  you 
were  pleased  to  intimate  that  the  deep  interest  of  science  in 
exhibitions  of  this  nature  might  be  promoted  by  my  co-opera- 
tion I  considered  it  my  imperative  duty  to  yield  a  cheerful 
compliance. 

When  I  endeavor  to  enforce  those  considerations  which 

ought  to  operate  upon  us  generally  as  men,  and  particularly 

(318) 


PHI    BETA    KAPPA    ADDRESS  319 

as  Americans,  to  attend  to  the  cultivation  of  knowledge,  you 
will  not,  I  am  persuaded,  expect  that  I  shall  act  the  holiday 
orator  or  attempt  an  ambitious  parade,  an  ostentatious  dis- 
play, or  a  gaudy  exhibition,  which  would  neither  suit  the 
character  of  the  society,  the  disposition  of  the  speaker,  the 
solemnity  of  the  place,  or  the  importance  of  the  occasion. 

What  I  say  shall  come  strictly  within  the  purv'iew  of  the 
institution,  shall  be  comprised  in  the  language  of  unvarnished 
truth,  and  shall  be  directed  with  an  exclusive  view  to  advance 
the  interests  of  literature.  I  shall  not  step  aside  to  embellish 
or  to  dazzle,  to  cull  a  flower  or  to  collect  a  gem.  Truth,  like 
beauty,  needs  not  the  aid  of  ornament,  and  the  cause  of 
knowledge  requires  no  factitious  assistance,  for  it  stands  on 
its  own  merits,  supporting  and  supported  by  the  primary 
interests  of  society,  and  deriving  its  effulgent  light  from  the 
radiations  of  heaven. 

Man  without  cultivation  differs  but  little  from  the  animals 
which  resemble  him  in  fomi.  His  ideas  would  be  few  and 
glimmering,  and  his  meaning  would  be  conveyed  by  signs 
or  by  confused  sounds.  His  food  would  be  the  acorn  or 
locust,  his  habitation  the  cave,  his  pillow  the  rock,  his  bed 
the  leaves  of  the  forest,  his  clothes  the  skins  of  wild  beasts. 

Destitute  of  accommodations  he  w^ould  roam  at  large 
seeking  for  food  and  evincing  in  all  his  actions  that  the 
state  of  untutored  nature  is  a  state  of  war.  If  we  cast  our 
eyes  over  the  pages  of  history,  or  view  the  existing  state  of 
the  world,  we  will  find  that  this  description  is  not  exaggerated 
or  overcharged.  Many  nations  are  in  a  condition  still  more 
deplorable  and  debased,  sunk  to  the  level  of  brutes,  and 
neither  in  the  appearance  of  their  bodies  or  in  the  character 
of  their  minds  bearing  a  resemblance  to  civilized  humanity. 
Others  are  somewhat  more  advanced,  and  begin  to  feel  the 


320  DE    WITT    CLINTON 

dayspring  from  on  high,  while  those  that  have  been  accli- 
mated to  virtue  and  naturalized  to  intelligence  have  passed 
through  a  severe  course  of  experiments  and  a  long  ordeal 
of  sufferings. 

Almost  all  the  calamities  of  man,  except  the  physical  evils 
which  are  inherent  in  his  nature,  are  in  a  great  measure  to 
be  imputed  to  erroneous  views  of  religion  or  bad  systems 
of  government;  and  these  cannot  be  co-existent  for  any  con- 
siderable time  with  an  extensive  diffusion  of  knowledge. 
Either  the  predominance  of  intelligence  will  destroy  the  gov- 
ernment, or  the  government  will  destroy  it.  Either  it  will 
extirpate  superstition  and  enthusiasm,  or  they  will  contami- 
nate its  purity  and  prostrate  its  usefulness.  Knowledge  is 
the  cause  as  well  as  the  effect  of  good  government.     .     .     . 

Let  us  then  be  vigilant  and  active  in  the  great  and  holy 
cause  of  knowledge.  The  field  of  glory  stretches  before  you 
in  wide  expanse.  Untrodden  heights  and  unknown  lands 
surround  you.  Waste  not,  however,  your  energies  on  sub- 
jects of  a  frivolous  nature,  of  useless  curiosity,  or  impracti- 
cable attainment.  Books  have  been  multiplied  to  designate 
the  writer  of  Junius  —  the  Man  in  the  Iron  Mask  has  exer- 
cised the  inquisitorial  attention  of  Europe  —  and  perpetual 
motion,  the  philosopher's  stone,  and  the  immortal  elixir,  have 
destroyed  the  lives  and  fortunes  of  thousands. 

Genuine  philosophy  has  sometimes  its  aberrations,  and,  like 
the  Spartan  king  or  Roman  emperor,  mingles  in  the  amuse- 
ments of  children.  The  sceptre  of  science  is  too  often  sur- 
rounded by  toys  and  baubles,  and  even  Linnaeus  condescended 
to  amuse  his  fancy  with  the  creation  of  vegetable  dials  and 
oriental  pearls.  Innovation  without  improvement,  and  experi- 
ments without  discoveries,  are  the  rocks  on  which  ingenuity 
is  too  often  shipwrecked. 


PHI  BETA  KAPPA  ADDRESS  321 

"  Omne  ignotum  pro  magnifico,^^  ^  said  the  profound  his- 
torian of  Rome."  Wonder  is  the  child  of  ignorance,  and 
vanity  the  offspring  of  imbecility.  Let  us  be  astonished  at 
nothing  but  our  own  apathy,  and  cease  to  be  vain  even  of 
our  virtues.  The  fragrance  of  the  humble  lily  of  the  valley, 
and  of  the  retiring  eglantine  of  the  woods,  is  more  grateful 
to  genuine  taste  than  the  expressed  odor  of  the  queen  of 
flowers,  or  the  most  costly  products  of  the  chemical 
alembic. 

In  our  literary  pursuits  let  us  equally  reject  a  blind 
credulity  that  believes  every  fable,  and  a  universal  pj'rrhon- 
ism  that  repudiates  all  truths  —  a  canine  appetite,  which 
devours  everything,  however  light,  and  digests  nothing,  how- 
ever alimentary  —  and  a  fastidious  taste,  which  delights  not 
in  the  nutritious  viand,  but  seeks  its  gratification  in  the 
aromatic  desert. 

The  waters  of  ancient  learning  ought  to  be  drunk  at  the 
fountain  head  in  preference  to  the  streams.  We  are  too 
prone  to  rely  on  references,  quotations,  abridgments  and 
translations.  The  consequence  is,  that  the  meaning  of  the 
original  frequently  reaches  us  in  a  perverted  or  erroneous 
shape ;  its  ethereal  spirit  evaporates  by  a  change  of  convey- 
ance, and  we  lose  our  acquaintance  with  the  learned  lan- 
guages. 

A  fault  equally  common  and  more  humiliating  is  an  idol- 
atrous veneration  for  the  literary  men  of  Europe.  This 
intellectual  vassalage  has  been  visited  by  high-toned  arro- 
gance and  malignant  vituperation.  Harmless  indeed  is  the 
calumny,  and  it  recoils  from  the  object  like  the  javelin  thrown 
by  the  feeble  hand  of  old  Priam;  but  it  ought  to  combine 
with  other  inducements  to  encourage  a  vernacular  literature 

^  "  Everything  unknown  is  exaggerated."     '  Tacitus. 
Vol.  4—21 


322  DE    WITT   CLINTON 

and  to  cause  us  to  bestow  our  patronage  upon  more  meri- 
torious works  of  our  own  country. 

We  have  writers  of  genius  and  erudition  who  form  a 
respectable  profession.  Some  have  ascended  the  empyreal 
heights  of  poesy  and  have  gathered  the  laurel  ^v^eaths  of 
genius ;  others  have  trodden  the  enchanted  ground  of  fictitious 
narrative  and  have  been  honored  by  the  te£.rs  of  beauty 
and  the  smiles  of  virtue.  While  several  have  unfolded  the 
principles  of  science,  literature,  philosophy,  jurisprudence, 
and  theology,  and  have  exalted  the  intellectual  glory  of 
America,  let  us  cherish  the  hope  that  some  at  least  will  devote 
their  faculties  to  improve  those  arts  and  sciences  on  which 
the  substantial  interests  of  our  country  so  greatly  depend. 

I  refer  particularly  to  agriculture,  civil  engineering,  and 
naval  architecture.  Let  us  also  trust  that  some  vigorous 
minds  will  apply  their  powers  to  the  illustration  of  our  his- 
tory. It  has  been  said,  with  more  point  than  truth,  that  the 
annals  of  modem  colonies  afford  but  two  memorable  events  — 
the  foundation,  and  the  separation  from  the  parent  country. 

If  this  observation  had  been  so  qualified  as  to  refer  to  those 
occunences  as  the  most  memorable,  not  as  the  only  memo- 
rable events,  it  would  undoubtedly  have  been  correct.  The 
colonial  history  of  iSTew  York,  although  imperfectly  executed 
and  brought  do"\vn  only  to  1732,  is  fertile  of  instruction  and 
replete  with  interest.  The  translations  of  the  erudite  Vander- 
kemp,  and  the  collections  of  the  Historical  Society  of  New 
York,  have  furnished  the  most  ample  materials;  and  whenever 
it  is  given  to  the  world  by  a  master-hand  it  will  be  a  com- 
plete refutation  of  the  remark  which  I  have  quoted.  Is  it 
too  much  to  pay  that  we  have  no  good  history  of  the  United 
States,  and  that  the  best  account  of  our  independence  is 
written  by  Botta,  an  Italian? 


PHI  BETA  KAPPA  ADDRESS  323 

At  this  moment  a  respectable  mechanic  of  the  city  of 
London  is  collecting  materials  for  writing  our  history.  He 
is  favorably  noticed  by  distinguished  members  of  Parliament ; 
and  although  his  mind  has  not  been  disciplined  by  a  liberal 
education,  yet  its  productions  display  vigorous  and  cultivated 
powers.  Let  this  stimulate  us  to  similar  and  animated  exer- 
tions, and  let  not  our  writers  despair  of  ultimate  success,  even 
if  their  efforts  are  attended  with  partial  failures. 

Experience  certainly  brightens  the  vista  of  futurity;  but 
they  must  expect  that  their  fate  will  be  determined  sooner  or 
later  by  intrinsic  merit.  Those  -\\Titings  that  emit  no  efful- 
gence and  communicate  no  information  will  fall  still-born 
from  the  press  and  plunge  at  once  into  the  abyss  of  obscurity. 
Others  again  will  dazzle  as  they  glide  rapidly  over  the  literary 
horizon  and  be  seen  no  more.  Some,  after  basking  in  the 
meridian  sunshine,  will  gradually  undergo  a  temporary 
eclipse;  but  time  will  dispense  justice  and  restore  their 
original  splendor. 

"  So  sinks  the  day-star  in  the  ocean's  bed. 
And  yet  anon  repairs  his  drooping  head, 
And  tricl^s  his  beams,  and  with  new-spangled  ore, 
Flames  in  the  forehead  of  the  morning  sky."  ^ 

A  fortunate  few  are  always  in  the  full  blaze  of  sublime  glory. 
They  are  the  phoenixes  of  the  age,  the  elect  of  genius,  and 
the  favorites  of  nature  and  of  heaven. 

There  is  nothing  "  under  heaven's  wide  hollowness " 
which  does  not  furnish  aliment  for  the  mind.  All  that  we 
observe  by  the  organs  of  sense,  and  all  that  we  perceive  by 
the  operations  of  the  understanding  —  all  that  we  contem- 
plate in  retrospect,  at  the  present,  or  in  the  future,  may  be 
compounded  or  decomposed  in  the  intellectual  laboratory,  for 
beneficial  purposes. 

*  Milton.        -  Spenser. 


324  RE    WITT    CLINTON 

The  active  mind  is  always  vigilant,  always  observing.  The 
original  images  which  are  created  by  a  vivid  imagination, 
the  useful  ideas  which  are  called  up  by  memory,  and  the 
vigorous  advances  of  the  reasoning  power  into  the  regions  of 
disquisition  and  investigation,  furnish  full  employment  for 
the  most  powerful  mind;  and  after  it  is  fully  stored  with  all 
the  productions  of  knowledge,  then  the  intellect  has  to 
employ  its  most  important  functions  in  digesting  and  arrang- 
ing the  vast  and  splendid  materials.  And  if  there  be  any- 
tliing  in  this  world  which  can  administer  pure  delight,  it  is 
when  we  summon  our  intellectual  resources,  rally  our  mental 
powers,  and  proceed  to  the  investigation  of  a  subject  distin- 
guished for  its  importance  and  complexity,  and  its  influence 
on  the  destinies  of  man. 

If  science  were  to  assume  a  visible  form,  like  the  fabled 
muses  of  the  ancient  mythology,  all  men  would  be  ready  to 
exclaim  with  the  poet  — 

— "  her  angel's  face, 
As  the  great  eye  of  heaven  shined  bright, 
And  made  a  sunshine  in  a  shady  place; 
Did  never  mortal  eye  behold  such  heavenly  grace." 

But,  alas!  it  is  a  blessing  not  without  its  alloy  Its  sedentary 
occupations  and  its  severe  exercises  of  the  mind  impair  the 
health,  and  hypochondria,  the  Promethean  vulture  of  the 
student,  poisons  for  a  time  all  the  sources  of  enjoyment.  Add 
to  this  the  tortures  of  hope  deferred  and  of  expectation  dis- 
appointed. After  nights  without  sleep,  and  days  without 
repose,  in  the  pursuit  of  a  favorite  investigation ;  after  task- 
ing the  mind  and  stretching  all  its  faculties  to  the  utmost 
extent  of  exertion, — when  the  golden  vision  of  approaching 
fame  dazzles  the  eye  in  the  distance,  and  the  hand  is  extended 
to  taste  the  fruit  and  to  reap  the  harvest,  the  airy  castles, 


PHI    BETA    KAPPA    ADDRESS  325 

the  gorgeous  palaces  of  the  imagination,  vanish  like  enchanted 
ground  and  disappear  like  the  baseless  fabric  of  a  vision. 

From  such  perversities  of  fortune  the  sunshine  of  comfort 
may,  however,  be  extracted.  In  the  failure  of  a  scientific 
investigation  collateral  discoveries  of  great  moment  have  been 
made.  And  as  an  eminent  philosopher '  has  well  remarked, 
"  AVhat  succeeds,  pleaseth  more,  but  what  succeeds  not,  many 
times  informs  no  less."  And  in  the  worst  position  the  mind 
is  improved,  sharpened,  expanded,  brightened,  and  strength- 
ened by  the  processes  which  it  has  undergone  and  the 
elaborations  which  it  has  experienced. 

"  We  must  not  then  expect 
A  perpetual  feast  of  nectar'd  sweets 
Where  no  crude  surfeit  reigns." 

But  we  may  confidently  pronounce  that  a  cornucopia  of  bless- 
ings will  attend  the  diffusion  of  knowledge  —  that  it  will  have 
an  electrifying  effect  on  all  the  sources  of  individual  happiness 
and  public  prosperity  —  that  glory  will  follow  in  the  train 
of  its  felicitous  cultivation,  and  that  the  public  esteem,  in 
perennial  dispensation,  will  crown  its  votaries. 

This  State  enjoys  a  temperate  climate  and  fruitful  soil, 
and,  situate  between  the  Great  Lakes  on  the  north  and  west, 
and  the  ocean  on  the  south  and  east,  ought  always  to  be  the 
seat  of  plenty  and  salubrity.  It  requires  nothing  but  the 
enlightened  evolution  of  its  faculties  and  resources  to  realize 
the  beau-ideal  of  perfection :  and  the  co-operation  of  man  with 
the  bounty  of  Providence  will  render  it  a  terrestrial  paradise. 
And  this  must  be  effected  through  the  agency  of  intellectual 
operating  on  physical  exertion. 

In  this  grand  career  of  mind,  in  this  potent  effort  of  science, 
in  this  illustrious  display  of  patriotism,  contributions  will  flow 

*  Bacon.         '  Milton. 


326  DK    WITT    CLINTON 

in  from  all  quarters.  The  humble  mite  will  be  acceptable  as 
well  as  the  goldeii  talent.  And  the  discriminating,  per- 
spicacious, and  comprehensive  eye  of  intellect  will  find — 

"  Tongues  in  trees;  books  in  the  running  brooks; 
Sermons  in  stones;  and  good  in  everything."  ' 

Indeed,  the  very  ground  on  which  we  stand  affords  topics 
for  important  consideration  and  useful  application.  This  city 
was  among  the  earliest  seats  of  European  settlement.  It  was 
at  the  head  of  a  great  portage,  reaching  from  the  termination 
of  the  navigable  waters  of  the  west  to  the  head  waters  of  the 
Hudson.  It  was  the  g-reat  entrepot  of  the  valuable  trade  in 
furs  and  peltries,  and  the  thoroughfare  of  commercial  adven- 
tures, of  scientific  explorations,  and  of  niilitarv  expeditions. 
In  1G90  it  was  destroyed  by  an  irruption  of  French  and 
Indians  —  the  lives  of  many  of  its  inhabitants  were  saved  as 
it  were  by  a  special  interposition  of  Providence. 

And  the  sympathizing  and  pathetic  speech  of  the  faithful 
Mohawks  on  that  melancholy  occasion  may  be  ranked  among 
the  most  splendid  effusions  of  oratory."  The  alluvial  lands 
of  the  river,  rich  as  the  soil  formed  by  the  overflowings  of  the 
jSTile,  were  the  principal  residence  of  that  ferocious  and  martial 
race,  the  true  old  heads  of  the  Iroquois  —  a  confederacy  which 
carried  terror,  havoc,  and  desolation  from  the  Gulf  of  St. 
Lawrence  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  which  aspired  to  uni- 
versal empire  over  the  savage  nations.  How  astonished  would 
that  people  be  if  they  could  be  summoned  to  life,  to  \ntnes3 
the  flowing  of  the  waters  of  the  west  through  this  place,  seek- 
ing in  a  navigable  shape  a  new  route  to  the  Atlantic  Ocean, 
carrying  on  their  bosom  the  congregated  products  of  nature 
and  art,  and  spreading  as  they  proceed,  wealth  and  prosperity. 

All  alluvial  ground  formed  by  streams  emanating  from  a 
'  Shakespeare.  '  Colden's   "  History   of   the   Five   Nations." 


PHI  BETA  KAPPA  ADDRESS  327 

distance  and  reinforced  in  their  transit  by  auxiliary  waters 
must  be  fertile  not  only  in  soil,  but  abundant  in  the  various 
productions  of  the  vegetable  kingdom.  The  germs  of  plants 
will  be  transported  from  remote  quarters;  and  the  gorges  and 
ravines,  formed  in  many  places  by  intersecting  streams,  will 
not  onlj'  protect  particular  spots  from  the  ravages  of  the  plow, 
but  open  the  treasures  of  the  mineral  kingdom  by  the  pro- 
found excavations  of  the  water  and  the  transportation  of 
distant  fossils.  Here,  then,  is  a  proper  region  for  interesting 
discovery.  Strange  trees  now  flourish  on  the  banks  of  the 
river,  many  a  flower  is  born  to  blush  unseen,  and  many  a 
curious  production  has  never  undergone  scientific  scrutiny. 

Here  has  been  established  a  great  seminary  of  education 
which  in  less  than  thirty  years  has  risen  to  an  extraordinary 
altitude  of  excellence;  which  unites  the  ardor  of  youthful 
enthusiasm  with  the  wisdom  of  experienced  longevity  and  the 
celebrity  of  confirmed  usefulness;  and  which,  by  an  able 
diffusion  of  the  light  of  knowledge  and  a  dexterous  manage- 
ment of  the  helm  of  government,'  has  already  produced  scholars 
who  adorn  and  illumine  the  walks  of  science  and  literature, 
the  pursuits  of  professional  life,  and  the  councils  of  our 
country. 

In  this  vicinity  flourished  Sir  William  Johnson,  one  of  the 
extraordinary  characters  of  our  colonial  history.  He  settled 
near  the  banks  of  the  Mohawk,  and  from  humble  beginnings 
he  acquired  great  celebrity, — particularly  in  war, — immense 
wealth,  and  the  favor  of  his  sovereign.  Auspicious  events  in 
concurrence  with  a  paramount  influence  over  the  Indians,  and 
oreat  enersT  of  character,  laid  the  foundation  and  erected 
the  superstructure  of  his  fortunes. 

In  this  place  lived  and  died  that  eminent  servant  of  God, 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Romeyn,  the  fragrance  of  whose  virtues  is  still 


328  DE    WITT    CLINTON 

cherislied  in  your  hearts  and  felt  in  your  lives.  His  venerable 
form,  his  dignified  deportment,  his  eye  beaming  goodness, 
and  his  voice  uttering  wisdom,  are  still  fresh  in  your  minds; 
so  impressive  is  the  power  of  combined  virtue  and  intelligence. 
Dr.  Dwiglit,  the  greatest  theologian  of  the  age,  has  pro- 
nounced his  eulogium;  and  it  remains  for  biography  to  per- 
form its  functions  and  to  fill  up  the  outlines  so  ably  drawn  by 
one  of  the  most  acute  observers  and  profound  thinkers  which 
our  country  has  produced. 

Finally,  whatever  may  be  our  thoughts,  our  words,  our 
writings,  or  our  actions,  let  them  all  be  subservient  to  the 
promotion  of  science  and  the  prosperity  of  our  country. 
Pleasure  is  a  shadow,  wealth  is  vanity,  and  power  a  pageant ; 
but  knowledge  is  ecstatic  in  enjoyment,  perennial  in  fame, 
unlimited  in  space,  and  infinite  in  duration.  In  the  perform- 
ance of  its  sacred  offices  it  fears  no  danger,  spares  no  expense, 
omits  no  exertion.  It  scales  the  mountain,  looks  into  the 
volcano,  dives  into  the  ocean,  perforates  the  earth,  wings  its 
flight  into  the  skies,  encircles  the  globe,  explores  sea  and  land, 
contemplates  the  distant,  examines  the  minute,  comprehends 
the  great,  and  ascends  to  the  sublime.  No  place  too  remote 
for  its  grasp ;  no  heavens  too  cxhalted  for  its  reach.  "  Its 
seat  is  the  bosom  of  God ;  its  voice  the  harmony  of  the  Avorld. 
All  things  in  heaven  and  eartli  do  it  homage,  the  very  least 
as  feeling  its  care,  and  the  gTcatest  as  not  exempt  from  its 
power.  Both  angels  and  men  and  creatures,  of  what  condi- 
tion soever,  though  each  in  different  sort  and  manner,  yet  all, 
with  uniform  consent,  admiring  it  as  the  parent  of  peace  and 
liappiness."  ^ 

^  Hooker. 


DUKE   OF    WELLINGTON 


WELLINGTON 


jRTHUR  Wellesley,  Duke  OF  WELLINGTON,  familiarly  known  as  "the 
Iron  Duke,"  one  of  England's  greatest  generals,  was  born  at  Dangan 
Castle,  County  Meath,  Ireland,  May  1,  1769,  and  died  at  Walmer 
Castle,  Kent,  Sept.  14,  1852.  The  third  son  of  Garrett  Wesley,  first 
Earl  of  Mornington,  and  younger  brother  of  the  Marquess  of  Wellesley,  he  was 
educated  at  Eton  and  at  the  military  college  of  Angers,  in  France,  where  he  specially 
studied  engineering.  He  first  served  abroad  in  the  Low  Countries,  but  in 
1797  his  earliest  campaigning  was  in  India,  where  he  rendered  important  service.s 
in  the  Mysore  War,  and  later  on  defeated  the  warlike  Mahrattas  in  the  battle  of 
Assaye  (September,  1803).  Returning  to  England  in  1805,  he  entered  Parliament  in  the 
following  year,  and  in  1807  became  chief  secretary  for  Ireland  and  served  in  Cath- 
cart's  expedition  to  Denmark,  which  ended  in  the  bombardment  and  capture  of 
Copenhagen.  His  military  honors  were  now  to  be  won  in  the  Peninsular  War,  where 
he  defeated  the  French  marshals  one  after  another  at  Talavera,  Busaco,  Salamanca, 
Vittoria,  and  drove  Soult  across  the  Pyrenees,  and  in  1814  defeated  him  at  Orthez 
and  Toulouse.  The  war  with  France  came  for  a  time  to  an  end  with  the  first 
abdication  of  Napoleon,  but  Wellington's  triumph  over  the  great  Corsican  general 
was  yet  to  be  won  after  the  escape  of  Napoleon  from  Elba.  Wellington  had  mean- 
while, with  the  rank  of  field-marshal,  received  his  country's  thanks  and  honors,  but 
he  was  now  to  make  an  undying  name  for  himself  by  his  prowess  in  the  crowning 
triumph  of  Waterloo,  and  to  receive  from  the  English  nation,  besides  a  peerage 
and  the  thanks  of  Parliament,  the  substantial  awards  of  his  piled-up  prize  money. 
It  was  some  years  after  the  peace  ere  he  took  part  in  public  affairs,  though  the 
remainder  [of  his  life  was  devoted  to  statesmanship.  From  1828  to  1830  he  was 
prime  minister,  and  he  was  later  on  member  of  several  ministries,  and  an  intimate 
private  friend  and  confidential  adviser  of  his  sovereign,  until  death  claimed  him,  in 
his  eighty-fourth  'year,  and  his  country  gave  him  a  public  funeral  and  burial  in 
St.  Paul's  Cathedral,  London.  The  place  he  had  won  for  himself  in  the  hearts  of 
his  countrymen  was  absolutely  unique,  for  in  his  day  no  face  and  figure  were  better 
known  to  the  population  of  London  than  "the  great  Duke,"  and  hardly  any  other 
hero  of  the  nation  has  better  earned  the  honor  and  reverence  of  his  generation. 

SPEECH   ON   CATHOLIC   EMANCIPATION 

DELIVERED  IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  LORDS,  APRIL  a.  1829 


M 


Y  LORDS, —  It  is  now  my  duty  to  move  that  your 

lordships  read  this  bill  a  second  time,  and  to  explain 

to  your  lordships  the  grounds  on  which  I  recommend 

this  measure  to  your  consideration.      I  may  be  under  the 

(329) 


330  ARTHUR    WELLESLEY,   DUKE    OF    WELLINGTON 

necessity  of  requesting  a  larger  portion  of  your  time  and  atten- 
tion, upon  this  occasion,  than  I  have  hitherto  been  in  the 
habit  of  occupying;  but  I  assure  you,  my  lords,  that  it  is  not 
my  intention  to  take  up  an  instant  of  your  time  with  respect  to 
mys(  If,  or  my  own  conduct  in  this  transaction,  any  farther  than 
to  express  my  regret  that  I  should  differ  in  opinion  on  this 
subject  from  so  many  of  those  for  whom  I  entertain  the  high- 
est respect  and  regard. 

However,  my  lords,  I  must  say  that  I  have  considered  the 
part  which  I  have  taken  upon  this  subject  as  the  performance 
of  a  public  duty  absolutely  incumbent  upon  me;  and  that  no 
private  regard,  no  respect  for  the  opinion  of  any  noble  lord, 
would  have  induced  me  to  depart  from  the  course  which  I 
have  considered  it  my  duty  to  adopt. 

I  must  say  likewise  this,  that,  comparing  my  own  opinion 
with  that  of  others  upon  this  subject,  I  have,  during  the  period 
I  have  been  in  office,  had  opportunities  of  fonning  a  judg- 
ment upon  this  subject  which  others  have  not  had;  and  they 
will  admit  that  I  should  not  have  given  the  opinion  I  have 
given  if  I  was  not  intimately  and  firmly  persuaded  that  that 
opinion  was  a  just  one. 

My  lords,  the  point  which  I  shall  first  bring  under  your 
lordships'  consideration  is  the  state  of  Ireland.  I  know  that 
by  some  it  has  been  considered  that  the  state  of  Ireland 
has  nothing  to  do  with  this  question  —  that  it  is  a  subject 
which  ouglit  to  1)0  left  entirely  out  of  our  consideration. 
My  lords,  they  tell  us  that  Ireland  has  been  disturbed  for  the 
last  thirty  years  —  that  to  such  disturbance  we  have  been 
accustomed,  and  that  it  does  not  at  all  alter  the  circumstances 
of  the  case   as  they  have  hitherto  appeared. 

My  lords,  it  is  perfectly  true  that  Ireland  has  been  disturbed 
during  the  long  period  I  have  stated ;  but  within  the  last  year 


ox    CATHOLIC    EMAKCIPATION  331 

or  two  there  have  been  circumstances  of  particular  aggrava- 
tion. Political  circumstances  have  in  a  considerable  degree 
occasioned  that  aggravation ;  but  besides  this,  my  lords,  I  must 
say,  although  I  have  no  positive  legal  proof  of  that  fact,  thar 
I  have  every  reason  to  believe  that  there  has  been  a  consider- 
able organization  of  the  people  for  the  purposes  of  mischief. 

My  lords,  this  organization  is,  it  appears  to  me,  to  be  proved 
not  only  by  the  declarations  of  those  who  fomied  and  who 
arranged  it,  but  likewise  by  the  effects  which  it  has  produced 
in  the  election  of  churchwardens  throughout  the  country ;  in 
the  circumstances  attending  the  election  for  the  county  of 
Clare;  in  the  circumstances  that  preceded  and  followed  that 
election;  in  the  proceedings  of  a  gentleman  who  went  at  tlie 
head  of  a  body  of  men  to  the  north  of  Ireland;  in  the  simul- 
taneous proceeding  of  various  bodies  of  men  in  the  south  of 
Ireland,  in  Thurles,  Templemore,  Killenaule,  Cahir,  Clonmel, 
and  other  places;  in  the  proceedings  of  another  gentleman  in 
King's  County;  and  in  the  recall  of  the  former  gentleman 
from  the  north  of  Ireland  by  the  Roman  Catholic  Association. 
In  all  these  circumstances  it  is  quite  obvious  to  me  that 
there  w-as  an  organization  and  direction  of  some  superior 
authority.  This  organization  has  certainly  produced  a  state 
of  society  in  Ireland  which  we  have  not  heretofore  witnessed, 
and  an  aggi-avation  of  all  the  evils  which  before  afflicted  that 
unfortunate  country. 

My  lords,  late  in  the  year  a  considerable  town  w^as  attacked 
in  the  middle  of  the  night  by  a  body  of  people  who  came  from 
the  neighboring  mountains,  the  town  of  Augher.  They 
attacked  it  with  arms,  and  were  driven  from  it  Avith  arms 
by  the  inhabitants  of  the  town.  This  is  a  state  of  things 
which  I  feel  your  lordships  will  admit  ought  not  to  exist  in 
a  civilized  country. 


332  ARTHUR    WELLESLEY,   DUKE    OF    WELLINGTON 

Later  in  the  year  still,  a  similar  event  occurred  in  Charle* 
ville;  and  in  the  course  of  last  autumn  the  Koman  Catholic 
Association  deliberated  upon  the  propriety  of  adopting,  and 
the  means  of  adopting,  the  measure  of  ceasing  all  dealings 
between  Roman  Catholics  and  Protestants. 

Is  it  possible  to  believe  that  supposing  these  dealings  had 
ceased,  that  supposing  this  measure  had  been  carried  into 
execution,  as  I  firmly  believe  it  was  in  the  power  of  those  who 
deliberated  upon  it  to  carry  it  into  execution;  is  it  possible  to 
believe  that  those  who  could  cease  these  dealings  would  not 
likewise  have  ceased  to  carry  into  execution  the  contracts  into 
which  they  had  entered^  AVill  any  man  say  that  people  in 
this  situation  are  not  verging  toward  that  state  in  which  it 
would  be  impossible  to  expect  from  them  that  they  would  be 
able  to  perform  the  duties  of  jurymen  or  to  administer  justice 
between  man  and  man  for  the  protection  of  the  lives  and  prop- 
erties of  his  Majesty's  subjects?  My  lords,  this  is  the  state 
of  society  to  which  I  wish  to  draw  your  attention,  and  for 
which  it  is  necessary  that  Parliament  should  provide  a  remedy. 
But  before  I  proceed  to  consider  what  those  remedies  ought  to 
be,  I  wish  just  to  show  you  what  the  effect  of  this  state  of 
society  has  been  upon  the  King's  prerogative. 

My  lords,  his  Majesty  could  not  create  a  peer,  and  the  rea- 
son he  could  not  create  a  peer  was  this:  His  Majesty's  ser- 
vants could  not  venture  to  recommend  to  him  to  incur  the 
risks  of  an  election,  and  those  which  might  have  attended 
any  acccident  at  the  election,  which  might  have  occasioned 
the  shedding  of  blood.  Such  a  disaster  must  have  been  pro- 
ductive of  an  immediate  civil  war  in  the  country;  and  not 
only  was  that  the  case,  my  lords,  but  I  confess  that  I  had  the 
strongest  objection  to  give  another  triumph  to  the  Roman 
Catholic  Association. 


ON    CATHOLIC    EMANCIPATION  333 

Then  we  are  asked,  "Why  do  you  not  carry  the  law  into 
execution?" 

My  lords,  I  have  upon  former  occasions  stated  to  your  lord- 
ships how  the  law  stood  in  respect  to  the  Association;  and  your 
lordships  will  observe  that  in  all  I  have  stated  hitherto  there 
was  no  resistance  to  the  law.  The  magistrates  were  not  called 
upon  to  act.  There  w^as  no  resistance  to  the  King's  troops; 
indeed,  except  in  the  case  of  the  procession  to  the  north  of 
Ireland,  they  were  never  called  into  duty.  There  was  no 
instance,  therefore,  in  which  the  law  could  be  carried  into 
execution. 

When  we  hear,  therefore,  noble  lords  reproaching  the  gov- 
ernment for  not  carrying  into  execution  the  law  in  Ireland, 
as  it  was  carried  into  execution  in  England,  the  obser- 
vation shows  that  they  do  not  understand  the  state  of 
things  in  Ireland.  The  truth  of  the  matter  is,  that  in 
England,  when  the  law  was  carried  into  execution  in  the  year 
1819,  a  large  body  of  persons  assembled  for  an  illegal  pur- 
pose; they  resisted  the  order  of  the  magistrates  to  disperse, 
and,  having  resisted  that  order,  the  magistrates  directed  the 
troops  to  disperse  them.  But  in  the  case  of  Ireland  there 
were  no  circumstances  of  the  same  kind:  no  order  was  given 
to  disperse  because  no  magistrates  were  present;  and  if  they 
had  been  present   there  were  no  troops  to  disperse  them. 

The  truth  is,  the  state  of  society  was  such  as  rendered  these 
events  probable  at  every  hour;  and  it  was  impossible  the  mag- 
istrates could  be  at  every  spot,  and  at  all  times,  to  put  an  end 
to  these  outrages,  which  really  are  a  disgTace  to  tlie  country 
in  which  they  take  place.  My  lords,  neither  the  law,  nor  the 
means  in  the  possession  of  government  enabled  government 
to  put  an  end  to  these  things.  It  was  necessary,  therefore, 
to  come  to  Parliament.     Now,  let  us  see  what  chance  there 


334  ARTIER    WETXESLEY,  DUKE    OF    WELLINGTON 

was  of  providing  a  remedy  for  this  state  of  things  by  coining 
to  Parliament. 

My  lords,  we  all  know  perfectly  well  that  the  opinion  of  the 
majority  in  another  place  is  that  the  remedy  for  this  state 
of  things  in  Ireland  is  a  repeal  of  the  disabilities  affecting  his 
Majesty's  Roman  Catholic  subjects.  We  might  have  gone 
and  asked  Parliament  to  put  down  the  lioman  Catholic  Asso- 
ciation; but  what  chance  had  we  of  prevailing  upon  Parlia- 
ment to  pass  such  a  bill  without  being  prepared  to  come  for- 
ward and  state  that  we  were  ready  to  consider  the  whole  con- 
dition of  Ireland  with  a  view  to  apply  a  remedy  to  that  which 
Parliament  had  stated  to  be  the  cause  of  the  disease? 

Suppose  that  Parliament  had  given  us  a  bill  to  put  down 
the  Roman  Catholic  Association,  would  such  a  law  as  that 
which  passed  lately  be  a  remedy  for  the  state  of  things  I  have 
already  described  to  your  lordships  as  existing  in  Ireland? 
Would  it  do  any  one  thing  toward  putting  an  end  to  the 
organization  which,  I  have  stated  to  your  lordships,  exists  — 
toward  putting  an  end  to  the  mischiefs  which  are  the  conse- 
quence of  that  organization  —  toward  giving  you  the  means 
of  getting  the  better  of  the  state  of  things  existing  in  Ire- 
land, without  some  further  measure  to  be  adopted?  But,  my 
lords,  it  is  said,  '^  If  that  mil  not  do,  let  us  proceed  to  blows!  " 
What  is  meant  by  "proceeding  to  blows"  is  civil  war! 

Xow  I  believe  that  every  government  must  be  prepared  to 
carr)'  into  execution  the  laws  of  the  country  by  the  force 
placed  at  its  disposal;  not  by  the  military  force  unless  it  should 
be  absolutely  necessary,  but  by  the  military  force  in  case  that 
should  be  necessary;  and,  above  all  things,  to  endeavor  to 
overcome  resistance  to  the  law,  in  case  the  disaffected  or  the 
ill-disposed  are  inclined  to  resist  the  authority  or  sentence  of 
the  law.     But  in  this  case,  as  I  have  already  stated  to  your 


ON    CATHOLIC    EMANCIPATION  335 

lordships,  there  was  no  resistance  of  the  law:  nay,  I  will  go 
further,  and  will  say  that  I  am  positively  certain  that  this 
state  of  things,  existing  in  Ireland  for  the  last  year  and  a  half, 
bordering  upon  civil  war  (being  attended  by  nearly  all  the 
evils  of  civil  war),  might  have  continued  a  considerable  time 
longer,  to  the  great  injury  and  disgrace  of  the  country;  and 
nevertheless  those  who  managed  this  state  of  things,  those 
who  were  at  its  head,  would  have  taken  care  to  prevent  any 
resistance  to  the  law,  which  must  have  ended,  they  knew  as 
well  as  I  do,  in  the  only  way  in  which  a  struggle  against  the 
King's  government  could  end. 

They  knew  perfectly  well  they  would  have  been  the  first 
victims  of  that  resistance;  but  knowing  that,  and  knowing  as 
I  do  that  they  are  sensible,  able  men  and  perfectly  aware 
of  the  materials  upon  which  they  have  to  work,  I  have  not 
the  smallest  doubt  that  the  state  of  things  which  I  have  stated 
to  your  lordships  would  have  continued,  and  that  you  would 
never  have  had  an  opportunity  of  putting  it  down  in  the 
manner  some  noble  lords  imagine. 

But,  my  lords,  even  if  I  had  been  certain  of  such  means 
of  putting  it  down,  I  should  have  considered  it  my  duty  to 
avoid  those  means.  I  am  one  of  those  who  have  probably 
passed  a  longer  period  of  my  life  engaged  in  war  than  most 
tuen,  and  principally  in  civil  war;  and  I  must  say  this,  that 
if  I  could  avoid,  by  any  sacrifice  whatever,  even  one  month  of 
civil  war  in  the  "country  to  which  I  was  attached,  I  would  sac- 
rifice my  life  in  order  to  do  it. 

I  say  that  there  is  nothing  which  destroys  property,  cuts  up 
prosperity  by  the  roots,  and  demoralizes  character,  to  the 
degree  that  civil  war  does.  In  such  a  crisis  the  hand  of  every 
man  is  raised  against  his  neighbor,  against  his  brother,  and 
against  his  father;   servant  betrays  master,   and  the  whole 


336  ARTHUR    WELLESLEY,  DUKE    OF   WELLINGTON 

scene  ends  in  confusion  and  devastation.  Yet,  my  lords,  this 
is  the  resource  to  which  we  must  have  looked ;  these  are  the 
means  which  we  must  have  applied,  in  order  to  have  put  an 
end  to  this  state  of  things,  if  we  had  not  made  the  option  of 
bringing  forward  the  measures  for  which  I  say  I  am 
responsible. 

But  let  us  look  a  little  farther.  If  civil  war  is  so  bad  when 
it  is  occasioned  by  resistance  to  the  government  —  if  it  is  so 
bad  in  the  case  I  have  stated,  and  so  much  to  be  avoided,  how 
much  more  is  it  to  be  avoided  when  we  are  to  arm  the  people 
in  order  that  we  may  conquer  one  part  of  them  by  exciting  the 
other  part  against  them? 

My  lords,  I  am  sure  there  is  not  a  man  who  hears  me  whose 
blood  would  not  shudder  at  such  a  proposition  if  it  were  made 
to  him;  and  yet  that  is  the  resource  to  which  we  should  be 
pushed  at  last  by  continuing  the  course  we  have  been  adopt- 
ing for  the  last  few  years.  I  entreat  your  lordsliips  not  to 
look  at  it  in  this  point  of  view  only,  but  let  us  revert  a  little 
to  what  passed  on  a  former  similar  occasion. 

My  lords,  I  am  old  enough  to  remember  the  rebellion  in 
1798.  I  was  not  employed  in  Ireland  at  the  time.  I  was 
employed  in  another  part  of  his  Majesty's  dominions;  but,  my 
lords,  if  I  am  not  mistaken,  the  Parliament  of  Ireland  at  that 
time  walked  up  to  my  Lord  Lieutenant  with  a  unanimous 
address,  beseeching  his  Excellency  to  take  every  means  to  put 
down  that  unnatural  rebellion,  and  promising  their  full  sup- 
port in  order  to  carry  those  measures  into  execution.  The 
Lord  Lieutenant  did  take  measures,  and  did  succeed  in  put- 
ting down  that  rebellion.  Well,  my  lords,  what  happened 
in  the  very  next  session?  The  government  proposed  to  put  an 
end  to  the  Parliament,  and  to  form  a  legislative  union  be- 
tween the  two  kingdoms,  for  the  purpose,  principally,  of  pro- 


ON    CATHOLIC    EMANCIPATION  SS*? 

posing  this  very  measure ;  and,  in  point  of  fact,  the  very  first 
measure  that  was  proposed  after  this  legislative  union,  after 
those  successful  endeavors  to  put  down  this  rebellion,  was 
the  very  measure  with  which  I  am  now  about  to  trouble  your 
lordships. 

Is  it  possible  noble  lords  can  believe  that,  supposing  there 
was  such  a  contest  as  that  which  I  have  anticipated  —  is  it 
possible  noble  lords  can  believe  that  such  a  contest  could  be 
carried  on  without  the  consent  of  the  other  House  of  Parlia- 
ment? 

I  am  certain,  my  lords,  that  when  you  look  at  the  division 
of  opinion  which  prevails  in  both  Houses  of  Parliament ;  when 
you  look  at  the  division  of  opinion  which  prevails  in  every 
family  of  this  kingdom  and  of  Ireland  —  in  every  family, 
I  say,  from  the  most  eminent  in  station  down  to  the  lowest 
in  this  country;  when  you  look  at  the  division  of  opinion  that 
prevails  among  the  Protestants  of  Ireland  on  this  subject,  I 
am  convinced  you  will  see  that  there  would  be  a  vast  differ- 
ence in  a  contest  carried  on  now  and  that  which  was  carried 
on  on  former  occasions. 

My  lords,  I  beg  you  will  recollect  that  upon  a  recent 
occasion  there  was  a  Protestant  declaration  of  the  sentiments 
of  Ireland.  As  I  said  before,  the  Parliament  of  Ireland,  in 
the  year  1798,  with  the  exception  of  one  or  two  gentlemen, 
were  unanimous;  and  on  a  recent  occasion  there  were  seven 
marquises,  twenty-seven  earls,  a  vast  number  of  peers  of 
other  ranks,  and  not  less  than  two  thousand  Protestant  gentle- 
men of  property  in  the  country,  who  signed  the  declaration, 
stating  the  absolute  necessity  of  making  these  concessions. 

Under  these  circumstances  it  is  that  this  contest  would  have 
been  carried  on  —  circumstances  totally  different  from  those 
which  existed  at  the  period  I  before  alluded  to.     But  is  it 

Vol.  4—22 


338  ARTHUR    WELLESLEV,   DUKE    OF    WELLINGTON 

possible  to  believe  that  Parliament  would  allow  such  a  contest 
to  go  on?  Is  it  possible  to  believe  that  Parliament,  having 
this  state  of  things  before  it  —  that  this  House,  seeing  what 
the  opinion  of  the  other  House  of  Parliament  is  —  seeing 
what  the  opinion  of  the  large  number  of  Protestants  in  Ire- 
land is  —  seeing  what  the  opinion  of  nearly  every  statesman 
for  the  last  forty  years  has  been  on  this  question,  would  con- 
tinue to  oppose  itself  to  measures  brought  forward  for  its  set- 
tlement? 

It  appears  to  me  absolutely  impossible  that  we  could  have 
gone  on  longer  without  increasing  difficulties  being  brought 
on  the  country.  But  it  is  very  desirable  that  we  should  look 
a  little  to  what  benefit  is  to  be  derived  to  any  one  class  in  the 
state  of  continuing  the  disabilities,  and  adopting  those 
coercive  measures  which  will  have  all  the  evils  I  have 
stated. 

AVe  are  told  that  the  benefit  will  be  to  preserve  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  Constitution  of  1688,  that  the  Acts  of  1688  per- 
manentlv  excluded  lioman  Catholics  from  Parliament,  and 
that,  they  being  permanently  excluded  from  Parliament,  it  is 
necessary  to  incur  all  the  existing  evils  in  order  to  maintain 
that  permanent  exclusion.  Xow  I  wish  very  much  that  noble 
lords  would  take  upon  themselves  the  trouble  I  have  taken 
to  see  how  the  matter  stands  as  to  the  permanent  exclusion 
of  Roman  Catholics  from  Parliament. 

My  lords,  in  the  Bill  of  Bights  there  are  some  things  per- 
manently enacted  which  I  sincerely  hope  will  be  permanent: 
these  are,  the  liberties  of  the  people,  the  security  for  the  Prot- 
estantism of  the  person  on  the  throne  of  these  kingdoms,  and 
that  he  shall  not  be  married  to  a  Papist.  Then  there  is 
an  oath  of  allegiance  and  supremacy  to  be  taken  by  all  those 
of  whom  that  oath  of  allegiance  is  required,  which  is  also 


ON    CATHOLIC    EMANCIPATION  339 

said  to  be  permanent;  but  it  contains  no  declaration  against 
transnbstantiation. 

There  is  also  an  oath  of  allegiance  different  from  that  which 
is  to  be  taken  by  a  member  of  Parliament.  I  beg  your  lord- 
ships will  observe  that,  although  this  oath  of  allegiance  was 
declared  permanent,  it  was  altered  in  the  last  year  of  King 
William.  This  shows  what  that  permanent  Act  was.  Then 
with  respect  to  the  oaths  to  be  taken  by  members  of  Par- 
liament, I  beg  your  lordships  to  observe  that  these  oaths,  the 
declaration  against  transnbstantiation  and  the  sacrifice  of  the 
mass,  are  not  originally  in  the  Act  of  William  III;  they  are 
in  the  Act  of  30th  Charles  II.  During  the  reign  of  Charles 
II  there  were  certain  oaths  imposed,  first  on  dissenters  from 
the  Church  of  England,  by  the  12th  and  13th  Charles  II, 
and  to  exclude  Roman  Catholics,  by  the  25th  Charles  II  and 
30th  Charles  II. 

At  the  period  of  the  Revolution,  when  King  William  came, 
he  thought  proper  to  extend  the  basis  of  his  government,  and 
he  repealed  the  oaths  affecting  the  dissenters  from  the  Church 
of  England,  imposed  b.y  the  13th  and  14th  Charles  II,  and 
likewise  the  affirmative  part  of  the  oath  of  supremacy,  which 
dissenters  from  the  Church  of  England  could  not  take.  That 
is  the  history  of  the  alteration  of  these  oaths  by  William  III 
from  the  time  of  Charles  II. 

But,  my  lords,  the  remainder  of  the  oath  could  be  taken 
by  dissenters,  but  could  not  be  taken  by  Roman  Catholics. 
The  danger  with  respect  to  Roman  Catholics  had  originated 
in  the  time  of  Charles  II,  and  still  existed  in  the  time  of 
AVilliam  III ;  but  the  oath  was  altered  because  one  of  the 
great  principles  of  the  Revolution  was  to  limit  the  exclusion 
from  the  benefits  of  the  constitution  so  far  as  it  was  possible. 
Therefore   we  have  this  as  one  of  the  principles  of  the  Rev- 


340  ARTHUR    WELLESLEY,  PUKE    OF    "WELLINGTON 

olution,  as  well  as  the  principles  I  before  stated  derived  from 
the  Bill  of  Rig:hts. 

The  noble  lords  state  that  what  they  call  the  principles  of 
1688  —  that  is  to  say,  these  oaths  excluding  Roman  Catholics 
—  are  equally  permanent  with  the  Bill  of  Rights,  by  which 
the  Protestantism  of  the  Crown  is  secured.  If  they  mil  do 
me  the  favor  to  look  at  the  words  of  the  Act  they  will  sec 
that  the  difference  is  just  the  difference  between  that  which 
is  pemianent  and  that  which  is  not  permanent.  The  Act  says 
that  the  Protestantism  of  the  Crown  shall  last  forever  —  that 
these  liberties  are  secured  forever;  but  as  for  these  oaths,  they 
are  enacted  in  exclusive  words,  and  there  is  not  one  word  about 
how  long  they  shall  last. 

"Well  then,  my  lords,  what  follows? 

The  next  Act  we  have  is  the  Act  of  Union  with  Scotland; 
and  what  does  that  Act  say?  That  the  oaths  to  be  taken  by 
the  members  of  Parliament,  as  laid  down  by  the  1st  of  Wil- 
liam and  Mary,  shall  continue  and  be  taken  till  Parliament 
shall  otherwise  direct.  This  is  what  is  called  a  permanent 
Act  of  Parliament,  a  provision  to  exclude  Catholics  for  all 
future  periods  from  seats  in  Parliament  I 

My  lords,  I  beg  to  observe  that  if  the  Act  which  excludes 
Roman  Catholics  from  seats  in  Parliament  is  permanent, 
there  is  another  clause  (I  believe  the  10th  of  1  William  III, 
cap.  8)  which  requires  officers  of  the  army  and  navy  to  take 
these  very  oaths  previous  to  their  acceptance  of  their  commis- 
sions. Now,  if  the  Act  made  in  the  first  year  of  William  and 
Mary,  which  excludes  Roman  Catholics  from  Parliament,  is 
permanent,  I  should  like  to  ask  noble  lords  why  the  clause 
in  that  Act  is  not  equally  permanent? 

I  suppose  that  the  noble  and  learned  lord  [Eldon]  will 
answer  my  question  by  saying  that  one  Act  was  permanent 


ON    CATHOLIC    EMANCIPATION  341 

and  ought  to  be  permanently  maintained,  but  that  the  othei 
Actwas  not  permanent  and  the  Parliament  did  right  in  repeal- 
ing it  in  1817.  But  the  truth  of  the  matter  is  that  neither 
Act  was  intended  to  be  permanent;  and  the  Parliament  of 
Queen  Amie  recognized  by  the  Act  of  Union  that  the  first 
Act,  relating  to  seats  in  Parliament,  was  not  peiTaanent; 
and  the  noble  and  learned  lord  did  quite  right  when  he  con- 
sented to  the  Act  of  1817,  which  put  an  end  to  the  10th  clause 
of  the  1st  of  William  III,  cap.  8. 

Then,  my  lords,  if  this  principle  of  exclusion  —  if  this  prin- 
ciple of  the  Constitution  of  1688,  as  it  is  called,  be  not  per- 
manent, if  it  be  recognized  as  not  permanent,  not  only  by 
the  Act  of  Union  with  Scotland  (in  which  it  was  said  that 
the  exclusion  oath  should  continue  till  Parliament  other- 
wise provided),  but  also  by  the  later  Act  of  Union  with  Ire- 
land, I  would  ask  your  lordships  whether  you  are  not  at 
liberty  now  to  consider  the  expediency  of  doing  away  with 
it  altogether,  in  order  to  relieve  the  country  from  the  incon- 
veniences to  which  I  have  already  adverted? 

I  would  ask  your  lordships  whether  you  are  not  called 
upon  to  review  the  state  of  the  representation  of  Ireland  — 
whether  you  are  not  called  upon  to  see,  even  supposing  that 
the  principle  were  a  permanent  one,  if  it  be  fit  that  Parlia- 
ment should  remain  as  it  has  remained  for  some  time,  groan- 
ing under  a  Popish  influence  exercised  by  the  priests  over 
the  elections  in  Ireland. 

I  would  ask  your  lordships,  I  repeat,  whether  it  is  not  right 
to  make  an  arrangement  w^hich  has  for  its  object  not  only  the 
settlement  of  this  question,  but  at  the  same  time  to  relieve  the 
country  from  the  inconveniences  which  I  have  mentioned. 

I  have  already  stated  the  manner  in  which  the  organization 
I  have  alluded  to  works  upon  all  the  great  interests  of  the 


342  ARTHUK    WELLESLEY,  DUKE    OF    WELLINGTON 

country;  but  I  wish  your  lordships  particuh^rly  to  attend  to 
the  manner  in  w^iich  it  works  upon  the  Church  itself.  That 
part  of  the  Church  of  England  which  exists  in  Ireland  is  in 
a  very  peculiar  situation :  it  is  the  Church  of  the  minority  of 
the  people. 

At  the  same  time  I  believe  that  a  more  exemplary,  a  more 
pious,  or  a  more  learned  body  of  men  than  the  ministers  of 
that  Church  do  not  exist.  The  ministers  of  that  Church  cer- 
tainly enjoy  and  deserve  the  affections  of  those  whom  they 
are  sent  to  instruct,  in  the  same  degree  as  their  brethren  in 
England  enjoy  the  affections  of  the  people  of  this  country; 
and  I  have  no  doubt  that  they  would  shed  the  last  drop  of 
their  blood  in  defence  of  the  doctrines  and  discipline  of  their 
Church. 

But  violence,  I  apprehend,  is  likely  to  affect  the  interests 
of  that  Church  ;  and  I  would  put  it  to  the  House  whether  that 
Church  can  be  better  protected  from  violence  by  the  govern- 
ment united  in  itself,  united  with  Parliament,  and  united 
in  sentiment  with  the  great  body  of  the  people,  or  by  a  gov- 
ernment disunited  in  opinion,  disunited  from  Parliament,  and 
by  the  two  Houses  of  Parliament  disunited.  I  am  certain 
that  no  man  can  look  to  the  situation  of  Ireland  without  see- 
ing that  the  interest  of  the  Church,  as  well  as  the  interest  of 
every  class  of  persons  under  government,  is  involved  in  such 
a  settlement  of  this  question  as  ^^^ll  bring  with  it  strength 
to  the  government  and  strength  to  every  department  of  the 
State. 


NAPOLEON    BONAPARTE 

|apoleox  Bonaparte,  Emperor  of  the  French  (1804-14),  and  the  most 
famous  of  modern  generals,  was  born  at  Ajaccio,  Corsica,  Aug.  15, 
1769,  and  died  at  Longwood,  St.  Helena,  May  5,  1821.  He  was  the 
son  of  Charles  Marie  Bonaparte,  and  at  the  early  age  of  ten  entered 
the  military  school  at  Brienne,  completing  his  military  studies  at  Paris,  where  he 
received  a  lieutenant's  commission.  Gaining  the  rank  of  colonel,  he  was  sent  against 
the  Austrians  in  Italy.  Here  fortune  favored  him,  supplemented  by  his  own  great 
will-power,  strategy,  and  rapid  action,  and  enabled  him  not  only  to  win  many  victories, 
but  to  mulct  the  defeated  towns  in  heavy  ransoms,  and  give  the  rich  provinces  of 
Italy  to  his  soldiers  as  pillage.  In  December,  1797,  he  returned  to  Paris,  where  he 
was  met  with  acclaim,  and  then  set  out  to  strike  a  blow  at  England  by  the  conquest 
of  Egypt.  Setting  out  thither,  Malta,  Alexandria,  and  Cairo  fell  before  him, 
and  an  Ottoman  army  was  driven  by  him  into  the  sea ;  but  he  received  a  check  at 
Acre,  from  a  combined  English  and  Turkish  force ;  while  in  Aboukir  Bay,  Nelson 
all  but  annihilated  the  French  fleet.  Escaping  capture,  he  reached  Paris  just  in 
time  to  meet  the  want  of  a  strong  man  at  the  head  of  affairs  and  was  made  First 
Consul,  abolishing  the  Directory  and  taking  the  Tuileries  as  his  official  residence. 
In  May,  1800,  he  again  took  the  field  against  the  Austrians  in  Italy,  and  after 
crossing  the  Alps  with  35,000  men  he  came  upon  the  rear  of  the  enemy,  entered 
Milan,  and  at  Marengo  gained  a  great  victory.  This  won  for  the  conqueror  the 
consulship  for  life,  and  in  1804,  he  was  crowned  at  Notre  Dame  Emperor  of  the 
French.  The  next  ten  years  was  a  struggle  against  the  allied  powers  of  Europe, 
which  for  a  time  went  in  Napoleon's  favor.  In  December,  1805,  he  invaded  Austria, 
occupied  Vienna,  and  broke  up  the  coalition  ;  at  Ulm  he  forced  the  Austrian  general  to 
lay  down  his  arms,  when  the  Corsican  pushed  on  and  entered  the  capital ;  later  on 
he  crossed  the  Danube  and  defeated  an  Austro-Russian  force  at  Austerlitz;  and  at 
Jena  (October,  1806)  he  defeated  the  Russians  and  marched  upon  and  entered 
Berlin  ;  after  which  he  moved  against  the  Russians  and  Prussians,  and  though 
partially  defeated  at  Eylau,  he  again  won  at  Friedland  (June,  1807),  and  by  the 
temporary  peace  that  ensued  extorted  from  Prussia  half  her  territory.  In  July,  1809, 
once  more  the  laurels  of  victory  fell  to  "the  man  of  Destiny,"  in  the  French  de- 
feat of  the  Austrians  at  Wagram.  Meanwhile,  three  of  his  brothers  had  been  placed 
upon  thrones,  and  the  Emperor  Francis  of  Austria  was  compelled  to  acknowledge 
the  sovereigns  of  Napoleon's  creation,  and  to  hand  over  to  him  his  own  daughter, 
Maria  Eouisa,  in  marriage,  Josephine  being  divorced  to  meet  the  exigency.  In 
January,  1812,  Sweden  and  Russia  declared  war  against  France,  and  Napoleon  now 
entered  upon  his  expedition  to  Russia,  which,  though  it  brought  him  new  laurels, 
closed  in  the  disastrous  winter  retreat,  and  lost  him  three-fourths  of  his  army. 
The  year  1813,  though  it  brought  him  the  victories  of  Lutzen  and  Dresden,  brought 
him  also  defeat  at  Leipsic,  and  the  humiliation  of  seeing  (March,  1814)  his  allied 
enemies  enter  Paris.  The  end  of  his  career  now  drew  near,  for  after  his  abdication 
and  exile  to  Elba  and  escape  therefrom,  he  was  confronted  by  the  allied  forces  under 
Wellington  in  Belgium,  and  lost  all  in  the  haznrd  of  battle  at  "Waterloo.  After 
this  came  the  banishment  to  St.  Helena,  where  he  died  six  years  later,  his  remains 
finding  sepulture,  in  1840,  in  the  magnificent  tomb  in  the  Hotel  des  Invalides,  Paris. 

(343) 


344  XAPOLEON    BONAPARTE 


ADDRESS  TO  ARMY   AT  BEGINNING  OF  ITALIAN 

CAMPAIGN 

DELIVERED   MARCH,   1796 

SOLDIERS, —  You  are  naked  and  ill-fed!  Government 
owes  you  mueli  and  can  give  you  nothing.  The 
patience  and  courage  you  have  shown  in  the  midst 
of  this  rocky  wilderness  are  admirable ;  but  they  gain  you  no 
renown;  no  glory  results  to  you  from  your  endurance.  It 
is  my  design  to  lead  you  into  the  most  fertile  plains  of  the 
world.  Rich  provinces  and  great  cities  will  be  in  your  power; 
there  you  will  find  honor,  glory,  and  wealth.  Soldiers  of 
Italy,  will  you  be  wanting  in  courage  or  perseverance? 


PROCLAMATION  TO  ARMY 

MAY,    1796 

SOLDIERS, —  You  have  in  fifteen  days  gained  six  vic- 
tories, taken  twenty-one  stand  of  colors,  fifty-five  pieces 
of  cannon,   and   several   fortresses,   and   overrun  the 
richest  part  of  Piedmont;  you  have  made  15,000  prisoners 
and  killed  or  wounded  upwards  of  10,000  men. 

Hitherto  you  have  been  fighting  for  barren  rocks,  made 
memorable  by  your  valor,  though  useless  to  your  country, 
but  your  exploits  now  equal  those  of  the  Armies  of  Holland 
and  the  Rhine.  You  were  utterly  destitute,  and  you  have 
supplied  all  your  wants.  You  have  gained  battles  without 
cannon,  passed  rivers  without  bridges,  performed  forced 
marches  without  shoes ;  and  bivouacked  ^vithout  strong 
liquors,  and  often  without  bread. 


TO    SOLDIERS    ON    ENTERING    MILAN  345 

None  but  Republican  phalanxes,  the  soldiers  of  liberty, 
could  have  endured  what  you  have  done;  thanks  to  you,  sol- 
diers, for  your  perseverance!  Your  grateful  country  owes 
its  safety  to  you;  and  if  the  taking  of  Toulon  was  an  earnest 
of  the  immortal  campaign  of  1794,  your  present  victories  fore- 
tell one  more  glorious. 

The  two  armies  which  lately  attacked  you  in  full  confidence 
now  flee  before  you  in  consternation;  the  perverse  men  who 
laughed  at  your  distress  and  inwardly  rejoiced  at  the  triumph 
of  your  enemies   arc  now  confounded  and  trembling. 

But,  soldiers,  you  have  as  yet  done  nothing,  for  there  still 
remains  much  to  do.  Neither  Turin  nor  Milan  are  yours; 
the  ashes  of  the  conquerors  of  Tarquin  are  still  trodden  under- 
foot by  the  assassins  of  Basseville.  It  is  said  that  there  are 
some  among  you  whose  courage  is  shaken,  and  who  would 
prefer  returning  to  the  summits  of  the  Alps  and  Apennines. 
No,  I  cannot  believe  it.  The  victors  of  Montenotte,  Mille- 
simo,  Dego,  and  Mondovi  are  eager  to  extend  the  glory  of  the 
French  name! 


TO  SOLDIERS  ON  ENTERING  MILAN 

PROCLAIMED   MAY   15,    1796 

SOLDIERS, —  You  have  rushed  like  a  torrent  from  the 
top  of  the  Apennines;  you  have  overthrown  and  scat- 
tered all  that  opposed  your  march.  Piedmont,  deliv- 
ered from  Austrian  tyranny,  indulges  her  natural  sentiments 
of  peace  and  friendship  toward  France.  Milan  is  yours,  and 
the  Republican  flag  waves  throughout  Lombardy.  The  Dukes 
of  Parma  and  Modena  owe  their  political  existence  to  your 
generosity  alone. 


346  NAPOLEON    BONAPARTE 

The  armv  whicli  so  proudly  threatened  you  can  find  no 
barrier  to  protect  it  against  your  courage ;  neither  the  Po,  the 
Ticino,  nor  the  Adda  could  stop  you  for  a  single  day.  These 
vaunted  bulwarks  of  Italy  opposed  you  in  vain;  you  passed 
them  as  rapidly  as  the  Apennines. 

These  great  successes  have  filled  the  heart  of  your  country 
with  joy.  Your  representatives  have  ordered  a  festival  to 
commemorate  your  victories,  which  has  been  held  in  every 
district  of  the  Republic.  There  your  fathers,  your  mothers, 
your  wives,  sisters,  and  mistresses  rejoiced  in  your  good  for- 
tune and  proudly  boasted  of  belonging  to  you. 

Yes,  soldiers,  you  have  done  much, —  but  remains  there 
nothing  more  to  do?  Shall  it  be  said  of  us  that  we  knew  how 
to  conquer,  but  not  how  to  make  use  of  victory?  Shall  pos- 
terity reproach  us  with  having  found  Capua  in  Lombardy? 

But  I  see  you  already  hasten  to  arms.  An  eifeminate 
repose  is  tedious  to  you;  the  days  which  are  lost  to  glory 
are  lost  to  your  happiness.  Well,  then,  let  us  set  forth !  "We 
have  still  forced  marches  to  make,  enemies  to  subdue,  laurels 
to  gather,  injuries  to  revenge.  Let  those  who  have  sharpened 
the  daggers  of  civil  war  in  France,  who  have  basely  murdered 
our  ministers    and  bvirnt  our  ships  at  Toulon,  tremble! 

The  hour  of  vengeance  has  struck ;  but  let  the  people  of  all 
countries  be  free  from  apprehension;  we  are  the  friends  of 
the  people  everywhere,  and  those  great  men  whom  we  have 
taken  for  our  models.  To  restore  the  capitol,  to  replace  the 
statues  of  the  heroes  who  rendered  it  illustrious,  to  rouse  the 
Roman  people,  stupefied  by  several  ages  of  slavery, —  such 
will  be  the  fruit  of  our  victories;  they  will  form  an  era  for 
posterity;  you  will  have  the  immortal  glory  of  changing  the 
face  of  the  finest  part  of  Europe.  The  French  people,  free 
and  respected  by  the  whole  world,  will  give  to  Europe  a 


TO    SOLDIERS    DURING    SIEGE    OP    MANTUA  347 

glorious  peace,  which  will  indemnify  them  for  the  sacrifices 
of  every  kind  which  for  the  last  six  years  they  have  been 
making.  You  will  then  return  to  your  homes  and  your 
country.  Men  will  say,  as  they  point  you  out,  "  He  belonged 
to  the  Army  of  Italy." 


ADDRESS   TO  SOLDIERS   DURING  SIEGE  OF  MANTUA 

DELIVERED   NOVEMBER  6,    1796 

SOLDIEES, —  I  am  not  satisfied  with  you;  you  have 
shown  neither  bravery,  discipline,  nor  perseverance; 
no  position  could  rally  you;  you  abandoned  yourselves 
to  a  panic-terror;  you  suffered  yourselves  to  be  driven  from 
situations  where  a  handful  of  brave  men  might  have  stopped 
an  army.  Soldiers  of  the  39th  and  85th,  you  are  not  French 
soldiers.  Quartermaster-General,  let  it  be  inscribed  on  their 
colors,  "  They  no  longer  form  part  of  the  Army  of  Italy! " 


ADDRESS  TO  TROOPS  ON  CONCLUSION  OF   FIRST 
ITALIAN   CAMPAIGN 

DELIVERED    MARCH,    1797 

SOLDIERS, —  The  campaign  just  ended  has  given  you 
imperishable  renown.  You  have  been  victorious  in 
fourteen  pitched  battles  and  seventy  actions.  You 
have  taken  more  than  a  hundred  thousand  prisoners,  five  hun- 
dred field-pieces,  two  thousand  heavy  guns,  and  four  pon- 
toon trains.  You  have  maintained  the  army  during  the 
whole  campaign.  In  addition  to  this  you  have  sent  six  mil- 
lions of  dollars  to  the  public  treasury,  and  have  enriched  the 
National  Museum  with  three  hundred  masterpieces  of  the 


348  NAPOLEON    BONAPARTE 

arts  of  ancient  and  modem  Italy,  which  it  has  required  thirty 
centuries  to  produce.  You  have  conquered  the  finest  coun- 
tries in  Europe. 

The  French  flag  waves  for  the  first  time  upon  the  Adriatic 
opposite  to  Macedon,  the  native  country  of  Alexander.  Still 
higher  destinies  await  you.  I  know  that  you  will  not  prove 
unworthy  of  them.  Of  all  the  foes  that  conspired  to  stifle 
the  Republic  in  its  birth,  the  Austrian  emperor  alone  remains 
before  you.  To  obtain  peace  we  must  seek  it  in  the  heart 
of  his  hereditary  state.  You  will  there  find  a  brave  people, 
whose  religion  and  customs  you  will  respect,  and  whose  pros- 
perity you  will  hold  sacred.  Remember  that  it  is  liberty  you 
carry  to  the  brave  Hungarian  nation. 


ADDRESS  TO  TROOPS  AFTER  WAR  OF  THIRD  COALITION 

DELIVERED   OCTOBER,   1805 

SOLDIERS   OF  THE  GRAND .  ARMY,— In  a  fort- 
night we  have  finished  the  entire  campaign.     What 
we  proposed  to  do  has  been  done.     We  have  driven 
the  Austrian  troops  from  Bavaria   and  restored  our  ally  to  the 
sovereignty  of  his  dominions. 

That  army  which  wdth  equal  presumption  and  imprudence 
marched  upon  our  frontiers  is  annihilated. 

But  what  does  this  signify  to  England  She  has  gained  her 
object.  We  are  no  longer  at  Boulogne,  and  her  subsidy  will 
be  neither  more  nor  less. 

Of  a  hundred  thousand  men  who  composed  that  army  sixty 
thousand  are  prisoners.  They  will  replace  our  conscripts  in 
the  labors  of  agriculture. 

Two  hundred  pieces  of  cannon,  the  whole  park  of  artillery, 


TO    TROOPS    AFTER    WAR    OF    THIRD    COALITION  349 

ninety  flags,  and  all  their  generals  are  in  our  power.     Fifteen 
thousand  men  only  have  escaped. 

Soldiers:  I  announced  to  you  the  result  of  a  great  battle; 
but,  thanks  to  the  ill-advised  schemes  of  the  enemy,  I  was 
enabled  to  secure  the  wished-for  result  mthout  incurring  any 
danger,  and,  what  is  unexampled  in  the  history  of  nations, 
that  result  has  been  gained  at  the  sacrifice  of  scarcely  fifteen 
hundred  men  killed  and  wounded. 

Soldiers :  this  success  is  due  to  your  unlimited  confidence 
in  your  emperor,  to  your  patience  in  enduring  fatigues  and 
privations  of  every  kind,  and  to  your  singular  courage  and 
intrepidity. 

But  we  will  not  stop  here.  You  are  impatient  to  commence 
another  canapaign. 

The  Russian  army,  which  English  gold  has  brought  from 
the  extremities  of  the  universe,  shall  experience  the  same  fate 
as  that  which  we  have  just  defeated. 

In  the  conflict  in  which  we  are  about  to  engage,  the  honor 
of  the  French  infantry  is  especially  concerned.  We  shall  now 
see  another  decision  of  the  question  which  has  already  been 
determined  in  Switzerland  and  Holland;  namely,  whether  the 
French  infantry  is  the  first  or  the  second  in  Europe. 

Among  the  Russians  there  are  no  generals  in  contending 
against  whom  I  can  acquire  any  glory.  All  I  wish  is  to  obtain 
the  victory  with  the  least  possible  bloodshed.  My  soldiers 
are  my  children. 


350  NAPOLEON    BONAPARTE 


ADDRESS  TO  TROOPS  ON  BEGINNING  THE  RUSSIAN 

CAMPAIGN 

DELIVERED   MAY,   1812 ' 

SOLDIERS, —  The  second  war  of  Poland  has  begun. 
The  first  war  terminated  at  Fried  land  and  Tilsit.  At 
Tilsit  Russia  swore  eternal  alliance  with  France  and 
war  with  England.  She  has  openly  violated  her  oath,  and 
refuses  to  offer  any  explanation  of  her  strange  conduct  till  the 
French  Eagle  shall  have  passed  the  Rhine  and  consequently 
shall  have  left  her  allies  at  her  discretion.  Russia  is  impelled 
onward  by  fatality.  Her  destiny  is  about  to  be  accomplished. 
Does  she  believe  that  we  have  degenerated?  that  we  are  no 
longer  the  soldiers  of  Austerlitz?  She  has  placed  us  between 
dishonor  and  war.  The  choice  cannot  for  an  instant  be 
doubtful. 

Let  us  march  forward,  then,  and,  crossing  the  Niemen, 
carry  the  war  into  her  territories.  The  second  war  of  Poland 
will  be  to  the  French  army  as  glorious  as  the  first.  But  our 
next  peace  must  carry  with  it  its  o\m  guarantee  and  put  an 
end  to  that  arrogant  influence  which  for  the  last  fifty  years 
Russia  has  exercised  over  the  affairs  of  Europe. 


FAREWELL  TO   THE  OLD  GUARD 

SPOKEN   APRIL  20,    1814 

SOLDIERS  OF  MY  OLD  GUARD,— I  bid  you  fare- 
well. For  twenty  years  I  have  constantly  accompanied 
you  on  the  road  to  honor  and  glory.     In  these  latter 
times,  as  in  the  days  of  our  prosperity,  you  have  invariably 


FAREWELL  TO  THE  OLD  GUARD  351 

been  models  of  courage  and  fidelity.  With  men  such  as  you 
our  cause  could  not  be  lost;  but  the  war  would  have  been 
interminable ;  it  would  have  been  civil  war,  and  that  would 
have  entailed  deeper  misfortunes  on  France. 

I  have  sacrificed  all  my  interests  to  those  of  the  country. 

I  go,  but  you,  my  friends,  will  continue  to  serve  France. 
Her  happiness  was  my  only  thought.  It  will  still  be  the 
object  of  my  wishes.  Do  not  regret  my  fate;  if  1  have  con- 
sented to  survive,  it  is  to  serve  your  glory.  I  intend  to  write 
the  history  of  the  great  achievements  we  have  performed 
together.  Adieu,  my  friends.  Would  I  could  press  you  all 
to  my  heart. 

[Napoleon  then  ordered  the  eagles  to  be  brought,  and, 
having  embraced  them  he  added:] 

I  embrace  you  all  in  the  person  of  your  general.  Adieu, 
soldiers!     Be  always  gallant  and  good. 


SIR    JAMES    SCARLETT 


•iR  James  Scarlett,  Baron  Abinger,  an  English  jurist,  and  baron  of 
the  exchequer,  was  born  on  the  island  of  Jamaica,  Dec.  13,  1769,  and  died 
at  Bury  St.  Edmunds,  England,  April  7,  1844.  Going  to  England  in  1785 
to  complete  his  education,  he  studied  at  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  and 
at  the  Inner  Temple,  London,  and  was  called  to  the  bar  in  1791.  He  rose  rapidly  in 
his  profession,  becoming  one  of  the  most  well-known  advocates  of  his  day  and  enjoying 
a  highly  lucrative  practice.  In  1816,  he  was  made  king's  counsel,  and  entered  the 
House  of  Commons  three  years  later.  In  Parliament  he  failed,  however,  to  sustain  the 
reputation  for  brilliant  oratory  gained  in  the  law  courts.  He  was  made  lord  chief 
baron  of  the  exchequer  in  1834,  and  was  in  the  following  year  raised  to  the  peerage  as 
Baron  Abinger,  but  seldom  took  part  in  the  debates  in  the  House  of  Peers.  Scarlett 
though  neither  great  as  a  lawyer  nor  especially  eloquent,  had  a  profound  knowledge  of 
human  nature,  quick  perceptions,  and  absolute  self-mastery ;  he  thus  achieved  a 
remarkable  success.  His  conduct  of  causes  displayed  great  tact,  for  his  chief  aim  was 
to  obtain  a  verdict  rather  than  to  win  applause.  Sir  James  was  for  a  time,  in  1827, 
attorney-general  in  Canning's  brief  administration. 


CHARGE  TO  THE  JURY 

DELIVERED  IN  1842  AFTER  SERIOUS  RIOTS  HAD  TAKEN  PLACE  IN  THE 
MANUFACTURING  DISTRICTS 

GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  GRAND  JURY,—  You  are 
assembled  at  this  unusual  season  to  discharge  a  very 
painful,  but  a  very  important  duty.  A  due  regard 
for  the  public  safety  makes  it  essential  that  all  tumultuous 
and  unlawful  assemblies  of  the  people  should  be  put  down 
by  force  if  necessary,  and  punished  with  the  utmost  rigor  of 
the  law. 

At  the  same  time  we  cannot  reflect  on  the  occurrences 
which  have  recently  taken  place  in  the  manufacturing  districts 
without  mixed  emotions  of  compassion,  and,  if  I  may  say  so, 
indignation:  compassion  for  the  weakness  and  ignorance  of 

those  deluded  multitudes  who  imagine  they  could  effect  the 
(352) 


CHARGE    TO    THE    JURY  353 

purposes  they  had  in  view  by  force  and  violence,  and  who,  as 
they  never  fail  to  do,  must  become  the  victims  of  their  own 
delusion,  and  suffer  misery  and  privation,  and  many  of  them 
punishment;  indignation  at  the  artful  contrivances  of  those 
who,  to  serve  their  own  private  objects  and  their  own  political 
ends,  promoted  and  excited  the  delusion  of  the  industrious 
classes,  by  addressing  to  their  minds  deceitful  arguments, 
unfounded  in  reason  or  in  sense,  and  then  endeavored  to  take 
advantage  of  the  delusion  they  had  caused,  in  order  that  they 
might  thereby  carry  into  effect  their  own  objects. 

I  need  hardly  remind  you  that  it  is  one  of  the  evils  incident 
to  a  nation  of  great  manufacturing  and  commercial  prosperity 
that  it  should  occasionally  be  subject  to  great  reverses.  It 
is  the  nature  and  habit  of  industry  and  enterprise  to  keep  full 
the  channels  of  supply  sometimes  to  overflowing;  and  when- 
ever a  check  to  the  demand  occurs  there  must  follow  for  a 
while  a  suspension  of  employment,  a  diminution  in  the  price 
of  manufactured  produce  and  in  the  wages  of  labor,  and  very 
often,  unhappily,  distress  and  misery  of  the  manufacturing 
classes. 

The  history  of  our  own  country  furnishes  examples  of  this 
kind.  A  bad  harvest  either  at  home  or  abroad;  the  blockade 
of  foreign  ports  with  which  we  are  accustomed  to»traffic;  a 
war  with  a  nation  which  takes  a  large  quantity  of  our  manu- 
factured goods;  the  disturbance  of  friendly  relations  between 
this  and  other  nations  with  which  we  have  commercial  inter- 
course; the  uncertainty  of  the  laws  which  affect  trade  and 
commerce;  sometimes  the  public  agitation  of  the  great  ques- 
tions or  principles  on  which  commerce  depends;  sometimes 
even  the  opinion  that  the  government  is  not  wise  enough  to 
propose  nor  strong  enough  to  carry  important  measures  for  the 
maintenance  and  advancement  of  the  public  weal;  all  these  are 

Vol.  4—23 


354  JAMiiS    SCAKLKTT,   BAEON    ABINGER 

circumstances  which  tend  to  paralyze  indnstry  and  the  enter- 
prise of  commercial  men,  and  at  the  same  time  to  suspend  all 
those  advantages  which  the  country  was  before  gaining  from  a 
prosperous  condition  of  trade  and  commerce.  It  would  be 
easy,  if  necessary,  to  trace  many,  if  not  all,  of  these  causes 
which  have  in  succession  or  combination  produced  that  distress 
we  have  lately  witnessed. 

I  stated  just  now  that  we  cannot  view  without  emotions  of 
compassion  the  situation  of  the  industrious  classes,  who,  not 
having  a  competent  knowledge  to  form  a  judgment  of  their 
own  as  to  the  principles  or  the  rights  of  property,  or  upon  the 
questions  in  which  their  own  prosperity  is  involved,  imagine 
that  they  can  by  force  and  violence  dictate  terms  to  their 
masters,  and  thereby  rescue  themselves  from  a  degree  of  pri- 
vation and  discomfort  against  which  no  government,  however 
it  might  be  formed,  and  no  law,  whatever  might  be  its  pro- 
visions, could  effectually  secure  them. 

Nevertheless  you  will  find  many  in  that  situation  of  life  to 
which  1  have  just  alluded,  and  with  that  infirmity  of  judg- 
ment which  I  have  just  described,  whose  passions  are  most 
easily  inflamed  when  subjects  are  touched  on  relating  to  their 
own  means  of  subsistence,  and  their  state  of  discomfort, 
induced  by  crafty  persons,  who  excite  and  mislead  them  to 
imagine  that  they  are  themselves  the  fittest  persons  to  govern, 
and  that  they  ought  to  have  an  equal  if  not  a  superior  share 
in  the  conduct  of  the  government  and  in  the  making  of  the 
laws.  I  am  afraid  that  the  manufacturing  classes  have  been 
of  late  the  dupes  of  this  sort  of  persuasion ;  and  you  will  find 
in  the  occurrences  which  have  called  you  together  sundry 
examples  of  this  delusion. 

You  will  find  that  there  is  a  society  of  persons  who  go  by 
the  name  of  Chartists,  and  who,  if  they  have  not  excited  or 


CHARGE    TO    THE    JURY  355 

fomented  those  outrages  which  will  be  brought  under  your 
notice,  have  nevertheless  taken  advantage  of  them  for  their 
own  purposes;  have  endeavored  to  prevent  the  unfortunate 
people  from  returning  to  their  work;  and  sought  so  to  direct 
them  that  they  might,  by  the  suspension  of  all  labor,  be  con- 
ducive to  the  attainment  of  political  objects. 

And  what  is  the  object  of  the  charter  which  these  men 
are  seeking  ?  What  are  the  points  of  the  charter  ?  Annual 
parliaments,  universal  suffrage,  and  vote  by  ballot. 

Yes,  gentlemen,  you  will  find  by  the  evidence  which  will 
be  produced  before  you  that  it  has  been  inculcated  upon  many 
misguided  persons  that  the  sovereign  remedy  for  all  abuses, 
and  the  only  means  of  putting  themselves  in  possession  of  such 
a  share  of  power  as  would  enable  them  to  vindicate  their  own 
rights  and  secure  themselves  against  oppression,  is  by  the 
enactment  of  what  they  call  the  People's  Charter. 

In  what  a  strange  situation  this  country  would  be  placed 
if  those  who  had  no  property  were  to  possess  a  preponderating 
voice  in  the  making  of  the  laws.  These  unhappy  men  do  not 
consider  that  the  first  objects  of  civilized  society  are  the  es- 
tablishment and  preservation  of  property  and  the  security 
of  person.  What,  then,  would  be  the  state  of  any  country 
if  multitudes  were  to  make  the  laws  for  regulating  property  or 
were  permitted  to  employ  physical  force  to  restrain  individuals 
from  employing  their  own  labor,  according  to  their  own  judg- 
ment, for  procuring  their  subsistence?  The  foundations  of 
civilized  society  may  be  considered  to  consist  in  the  protection 
of  property  and  the  security  of  person;  and  if  these  two  objects 
were  abandoned  society  must  be  dissolved.  What  a  strange 
effect,  then,  would  the  establishment  of  a  system  of  universal 
suffrage  produce;  for  under  it  every  man,  though  possessing 
no  property,  would  have  a  voice  in  the  choice  of  the  repre- 


356  JAMES    SCARLETT,  BARON    ABINGER 

sentation  of  the  people!  Tlie  necessary  consequences  of  this, 
system  would  be  that  those  who  have  no  property  would  make 
laws  for  those  who  have  property,  and  the  destruction  of  the 
monarchy  and  aristocracy  must  necessarily  ensue. 

I  do  not  pretend  to  judge  the  motives  of  those  individuals 
who  entertain  such  views  as  I  have  been  alluding  to,  but  they 
seem  to  forget  that  it  is  impossible  to  establish  a  perfectly 
democratic  representative  assembly,  in  the  formation  of  which 
every  man  in  the  country  should  have  a  voice,  without  eventu- 
ally destroying  the  monarchy  and  the  influence  of  property, 
and  leading  to  the  creation  of  a  form  of  government  which 
would  become  in  the  end  an  odious  tyranny.  Such  is  the 
history  of  all  attempts  to  establish  a  democracy  in  countries 
where  a  government  consisting  of  mixed  elements  formerly 
existed. 

There  is  a  country  which  cannot  be  spoken  of  without 
respect  and  attachment,  as  emanating  from  ourselves  (I  allude 
to  America),  from  which  you  may  collect  what  security  for 
property  is  afforded  by  a  pure  republic.  In  the  different 
States  of  America  there  arc  pure  democratic  associations 
elected  by  universal  suffrage  and  vote  by  ballot;  and  some  of 
these  States  have  recently  exhibited  the  regard  paid  to  prop- 
erty by  democratic  assemblies  by  having  protested  against 
paying  the  public  creditor  and  disregarded  their  own  obliga- 
tion to  obey  their  own  law  made  for  his  security.  If  such  a 
system  of  democracy  were  established  in  England,  the  first 
consequence  would  be  that  the  security  of  property  would  be 
removed;  the  public  creditor  and  all  commercial  accumula- 
tions would  be  destroyed ;  and  finally,  if  it  were  not  the  first 
object  aimed  at,  would  follow  the  destruction  of  property  in 
land.     There  would  be  a  universal  agrarian  law. 

The  formation  of  such  a  government  in  a  country  like  this 


CHARGE    TO    THE    JURY  357 

must  work  universal  ruin  and  distress,  and,  after  inflicting  the 
most  bitter  of  all  tyranny,  that  of  a  democratic  assembly, 
would  terminate  in  a  despotism.  But  it  appears  that  persons 
entertaining  a  design  to  establish  such  a  form  of  government 
have  taken  advantage  of  an  occasional  depression  of  the  com- 
merce and  manufactures  of  the  country,  and  the  privations 
which  the  laboring  classes  are  suffering,  for  the  purpose  of 
encouraging  them  to  resist  their  masters  and  to  abstain  from 
labor,  telling  them  tliat  this  was  the  only  means  within  their 
reach  by  which  they  could  obtain  the  accomplishment  of 
their  favorite  charter. 

I  am  glad  to  be  informed,  gentlemen,  that  on  some  portions 
of  the  multitudes  to  which  such  topics  were  addressed  they 
failed  to  have  any  effect.  There  was  a  certain  feeling  of 
common  sense,  and  a  remaining  attachment  to  the  institutions 
of  the  country,  which  forbade  many  to  listen  to  the  voice  of 
these  Chartists. 

Nevertheless,  gentlemen,  you  will  find  by  the  evidence 
which  will  be  produced  before  you  that  great  pains  were 
taken  to  inculcate  these  doctrines  in  the  minds  of  the  people 
and  to  encourage  them  by  the  force  which  belongs  to  assembled 
multitudes  to  carry  them  into  effect.  In  the  cases  which  will 
come  before  you,  gentlemen,  you  may  find  persons  preaching 
these  doctrines. 

I  am  desirous  not  to  be  understood  as  stating  that  the  mere 
holding  of  any  abstract  opinion  on  political  subjects  is  an 
offence;  but  if  those  persons  who  entertain  such  doctrines  as 
I  have  alluded  to  endeavor  to  enforce  them  by  popular  tumult, 
they  must  be  guilty  of  a  grave  offence.  If  you  should  find, 
too,  cases  satisfactorily  proved,  where  persons  have  used  efforts 
to  prevail  on  the  laboring  people  not  to  return  to  work,  or 
have  resorted  to  measures  of  tumult  and  disorder  in  order  to 


358  JAMKS    SCARLETT,   BARON    ABINGER 

carry  into  effect  their  favorite  objects,  there  can  be  no  doubt 
that  such  persons  are  justly  liable  to  punishment;  and  you, 
gentlemen,  will  doubtless  feel  it  due  to  your  country  to  bring 
them  before  this  court. 

There  is  another  class  of  offenders  who  will  be  brought 
before  you,  namely,  those  who  joined  in  assemblies  of  the 
people,  the  object  of  which  was  by  force  to  turn  others  out  of 
employment  or  prevent  them  from  continuing  at  work.  This 
is  a  species  of  tyranny  quite  intolerable.  AVhat  right  has  any 
man  to  dictate  to  another  at  what  price  he  should  labor.  If 
the  party  who  labors,  or  the  party  employing,  is  dissatisfied 
with  the  terms  of  the  contract,  they  have  nothing  to  do  but  to 
put  an  end  to  the  contract. 

I  am  afraid,  for  I  believe  the  law  has  been  altered  in  this 
respect,  that  even  the  combination  of  a  number  of  workmen 
for  the  purpose  of  dictating  terms  to  masters  has  ceased  to  be 
an  indictable  offence  in  itself.  But,  though  this  is  not  an 
indictable  offence  so  long  as  the  combination  be  conducted 
in  a  peaceable  and  quiet  manner,  yet  if  they  attempt  to  force 
others  to  join  them  by  terror  or  intimidation  they  ai*e  guilty 
of  one  of  the  most  daring  and  outrageous  acts  of  tyranny. 

What  would  be  said  if  a  government  differently  constituted 
from  onr  own,  and  acting  by  direct  force  on  the  people,  if  the 
powers  of  such  a  government  were  exercised  in  a  similar  man- 
ner in  order  that  the  workmen  might  not  continue  at  their 
labor?  AVould  it  not  be  described  as  an  insupportable  tyranny, 
and  as  fomiing  a  just  ground  for  insurrection?  Yet  you  wdll 
find  that  these  unhappy  men  were  not  content  with  exercising 
the  privileges  wliich  the  law  allowed  them,  of  agTeeing 
amongst  themselves  not  to  work  without  a  certain  rate  of 
remuneration,  but  they  attempted  by  force  to  compel  others 
to  quit  their  labor.     When  a  case  of  this  kind  comes  before 


CHARGE    TO    THE    JURY  359 

you,  gentlemen;  when  you  find  attempts  made  by  tumult,  riot, 
and  force,  to  detach  the  laborer  from  his  occupation,  you  will 
consider  them  offences  of  an  aggravated  character,  and  in  such 
cases  I  would  recommend  you  to  find  the  bills. 

The  third  class  of  offences  is  in  its  nature  not  so  aggravated, 
and  yet  it  is  not  to  be  passed  over,  namely,  where  persons' 
have  joined  in  a  tumultuous  crowd  engaged  in  some  illegal 
design.  You  may  say,  and  justly,  that  though  a  vast  number 
of  persons  might  assemble  together,  a  few  only  might  be 
engaged  in  any  criminal  design.  Still,  as  the  criminal  design 
could  only  be  effected  by  the  terror  which  a  multitude  inspires, 
any  man  who  joins  the  mob  becomes  one  of  the  persons  coun- 
tenancing and  furthering  the  illegal  end.  If,  therefore,  a 
crowd  tumultuously  collect  together,  creating  alarm  to  the 
neighborhood  in  which  it  assembles,  and  assuming  a  character 
dangerous  to  the  public  peace,  every  person  who  joins  it 
becomes  an  implicated  party,  and  is  by  law  guilty  of  riot, 
though  the  party  accused  may  have  done  nothing  more  than 
merely  brought  to  the  mob  the  sanction  of  his  personal 
presence. 

I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  a  man  might  not  be  in  a  mob 
innocently;  for  a  person  going  home  might  find  it  necessary 
to  pass  by  the  place  where  the  mob  was  assembled,  or  he 
might  go  into  the  mob  for  the  purpose  of  inducing  another 
not  to  join  it,  or  to  prevent  excess.  There  might  be  innocent 
motives  which  brought  a  man  in  the  midst  of  a  mob;  but  as 
by  his  presence  he  increased  the  multitude,  the  amount  of 
which  occasioned  terror,  it  lies  upon  hun  to  prove  his  inno- 
cence and  to  show  whether  his  presence  there  was  voluntary 
or  otherwise.  I  mention  this  as  a  case  of  simple  riot;  and  if 
you  find  persons  joining  assemblies  which  had  illegal  objects 
in  view,  or  which  conducted  themselves  in  a  tumultuous  and 


360  JAMES    SCARLETT.   BARON    ABINGER 

liotous  manner,  jou  must  bring  them  before  this  court;  for  if 
they  have  any  excuse  which  may  operate  in  their  defence,  they 
have  no  means  of  producing  it  before  you.  The  finding  of  a 
true  bill  against  them  will  be  justified  by  the  evidence  of  a 
prima  facie  case  against  them;  and  if  that  case  be  proved 
against  them  the  onus  probandi  as  to  their  innocence  will 
afterward  be  thrown  upon  them. 

From  the  information  laid  before  me  I  believe  that  I  have 
now  described  the  general  character  of  the  cases  which  will  be 
submitted  to  your  consideration ;  but  there  are  two  other  cases 
which  I  ought  to  mention.  I  have  stated  that  where  a  crowd 
assembled  and  acted  illegally,  those  facts  determined  the  char- 
acter of  the  assembly  to  be  unlawful.  You  will  find  that  in 
some  cases  attempts  have  been  made  to  extort  money  or  pro- 
visions, and  whenever  the  parties  so  acting  have  succeeded  in 
their  design  through  the  aid  of  terror  and  force,  they  have 
been  guilty  of  the  offence  of  robbery.  This  will  probably 
form  a  class  of  the  cases  which  will  come  before  you. 

Gentlemen,  you  are  aware  that  if  any  assembly  of  persons 
begin  to  demolish  and  pull  down  any  building,  that  act  con- 
stitutes a  felony.  Whether  any  cases  amounting  to  this 
offence  will  come  before  you,  I  am  not  sufficiently  informed 
to  say,  but  I  have  reason  to  think  that  some  of  the  cases  may 
take  that  shape.  All  the  different  classes  of  offences  which 
I  have  mentioned  will  probably  come  under  your  considera- 
tion. If  you  find  any  persons  fomenting  disturbance,  or 
endeavoring  to  work  out  their  particular  views  by  creating 
a  suspension  of  labor,  ruinous  not  only  to  the  parties  them- 
selves, but  also  to  the  country,  and  by  forcibly  compelling 
others  to  cease  labor,  they  are  liable  to  heavy  punishment.  If 
you  find  others  seeking  to  obtain  by  intimidation  money  or 
provisions,  or  engaged  in  pulling  down  buildings,  these  offend- 


CHARGE    TO    THE   JURY  36] 

ers  would  come  undei'  a  different  class,  but  they  would  deserve 
your  serious  attention.  I  believe  I  have  now  described  the 
character  of  the  different  offences,  and  I  am  not  aware  that  I 
could  add  anything  which  might  direct  your  inquiries.  Still 
I  shall  be  very  happy  to  give  you,  if  needful,  every  assist- 
ance in  my  power  to  facilitate  your  investigations.  Neverthe- 
less, I  do  not  think  it  probable  that  gentlemen  of  your  expe- 
rience and  knowledge  will  require  any  further  information. 

I  cannot  conclude  without  repeating  my  expression  of  com- 
passion for  the  unhappy  people  who  have  acted  under  the 
delusion  I  have  referred  to.  But,  gentlemen,  the  law  takes 
no  account  of  such  delusions;  and  if  a  man  commits  guilty 
acts  he  must  be  prepared  to  submit  to  the  consequences  of  his 
conduct.  It  is  true  that  the  poorer  classes  of  the  country  have 
been  suffering  from  great  privations ;  and  I  may  allude  to  this 
subject  as  it  is  matter  of  notoriety  and  has  formed  matter 
of  public  discussion;  but  it  is  very  singular  that  the  time 
chosen  to  break  out  was  a  period  when  a  more  settled  com- 
mercial policy  had  been  adopted,  when  every  person  expected 
a  revival  of  manufacturing  prosperity,  and  when,  I  believe, 
everv  person  felt  there  was  existing  a  salient  point  from  which 
commercial  prosperity  might  take  its  start.  It  is  singular  that 
this  should  be  the  moment  chosen  to  foment  these  disturb- 
ances ;  and  the  country  has  suffered  in  consequence  a  suspen- 
sion of  that  prosperity  which  might  confidently  have  been 
anticipated,  and  of  which,  I  trust,  it  is  not  too  late  to  hope 
for  the  return. 


TECUMSEH 


lECUMSEH,  or  Tecumtha,  a  Shawnee  warrior  and  chief,  who  with  his  triV* 
took  the  British  side  in  the  War  of  1812-14,  was  horn  near  the  presem 
site  of  Springfield,  ().,  about  the  year  1768,  and  was  killed  at  Moravian 
Town,  Upper  Canada,  in  what  is  known  as  the  battle  of  the  Thames,  Oct. 
5,  1813.  The  War  of  1812,  sometimes  termed  in  the  United  States  "the  second  War 
of  Independence,"  we  need  hardly  relate,  was  brought  about  owing  to  American  resist- 
ance to  British  impressment  of  seamen  and  the  right  of  search,  and  to  the  ulterior 
impression  in  English  minds  that  this  country  not  only  was  in  hearty  sympathy  with 
France,  which  had  just  been  at  war  with  England,  but  that  we  were  playing  into  the 
hands  of  her  life-long  enemy.  Napoleon.  The  hostility  of  the  Shawnees  and  their 
sachem,  who  sought  to  enlist  all  the  Western  Indians  against  the  United  States,  was 
due  to  encroachment  upon  their  lands  by  early  settlers  and  to  alleged  disregard  of 
treaties  with  their  braves.  Against  this  and  sulijection  by  the  whites,  Tecumseh,  asso- 
ciated for  a  time  by  his  twin  brother,  Elskwatawa,  known  as  "The  Prophet,"  rose  in 
arms  and  endeavored  to  array  all  the  dusky  tribes  of  the  region  in  a  confederated  attack 
upon  the  whites.  To  this  he  was  also  aroused  owing  to  the  enslavement  of  his  people 
by  the  white  man's  liquor.  In  the  autumn  of  1811,  a  considerable  force,  under  the 
Prophet,  attacked  General  Harrison,  but  was  defeated  at  Tippecanoe.  When  the 
War  of  1812  broke  out,  Tecumseh  led  a  body  of  his  Shawnees  into  Canada  to  the  sup- 
port of  the  British,  who  gave  him  the  rank  of  a  brigadier-general;  and  in  the  war  he 
fought  bravely  under  General  Proctor  in  several  engagements  and  was  twice  wounded. 
His  valor,  in  fact,  was  inclined  to  be  reckless,  though  he  was  considerable  of  a  tactician, 
and  by  his  eloquence  was  the  idol  of  his  people.  Nor  was  he  a  savage,  as  he  showed  at 
the  siege  of  Fort  Meigs,  at  the  Maumee  Rapids  in  Ohio,  in  the  summer  of  1813,  when 
he  saved  the  lives  of  American  prisoners,  part  of  the  command  of  General  Harrison, 
who  had  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  British  and  the  Indians.  His  career  came  to  a 
close  later  in  the  same  year,  in  the  battle  on  the  river  Thames,  which  flows  into  Lake 
St.  Clair,  and  where  he  commanded  a  wing  of  the  allied  Indian  and  British  forces  that 
were  defeated  by  General  W.  H.  Harrison,  then  governor  of  Indiana  Territory,  who  had 
won  the  victory  of  1811  at  Tippecanoe. 


SPEECH   AT   VINCENNES 

[In  1809  Governor  Harrison  purchased  of  the  Delawares  and  other  tribes  of  Indians 
a  birge  tract  of  country  on  both  sides  of  the  Wabash,  and  extending  up  the  river  sixty 
miles  above  Vincennes.  Tecumseh  was  absent  during  the  time  of  the  negotiation,  and 
at  his  return  expressed  great  dissatisfaction  with  the  sale.  On  August  12,  1810,  he 
met  the  governor  in  council  at  Vincennes,  when  he  addressed  him  as  follows:] 
(362) 


SPEECH    AT    VINCENNES  3g3 

IT  IS  true  I  am  a  Shawnee.  My  forefathers  were  warriors. 
Their  son  is  a  warrior.  From  them  I  take  only  my 
existence;  from  my  tribe  I  take  nothing.  I  am  the 
maker  of  my  own  fortune ;  and  oh !  that  I  could  make  that  of 
my  red  people,  and  of  my  country,  as  gi-eat  as  the  conceptions 
of  my  mind,  when  I  think  of  the  Spirit  that  rules  the  universe. 
I  would  not  then  come  to  Governor  Harrison  to  ask  him  to 
tear  the  treaty  and  to  obliterate  the  landmark;  but  I  would  say 
to  him.  Sir,  you  have  liberty  to  return  to  your  OM^n  country. 
The  being  within,  communing  with  past  ages,  tells  me  that 
once,  nor  until  lately,  there  was  no  white  man  on  this  conti- 
nent ;  that  it  then  all  belonged  to  red  men,  children  of  the 
same  parents,  placed  on  it  by  the  Great  Spirit  that  made  them, 
to  keep  it,  to  traverse  it,  to  enjoy  its  productions,  and  to  fill 
it  with  the  same  race,  once  a  happy  race,  since  made  miser- 
able by  the  white  people,  who  are  never  contented,  but 
always  encroaching.  The  way,  and  the  only  way  to  check 
and  to  stop  this  evil,  is  for  all  the  red  men  to  unite  in  claiming 
a  common  and  equal  right  in  the  land,  as  it  was  at  first,  and 
should  be  yet;  for  it  never  was  divided,  but  belongs  to  all  for 
the  use  of  each.  That  no  part  has  a  right  to  sell,  eve«n  to  each 
other,  much  less  to  strangers;  those  who  want  all,  and  will  not 
do  with  less. 

The  white  people  have  no  right  to  take  the  land  from  the 
Indians,  because  they  had  it  first;  it  is  theirs.  They  may  sell, 
but  all  must  join.  Any  sale  not  made  by  all  is  not  valid. 
The  late  sale  is  bad.  It  was  made  by  a  part  only.  Part  do 
not  know  how  to  sell.  It  requires  all  to  make  a  bargain  for 
all.  All  red  men  have  equal  rights  to  the  unoccupied  land. 
The  right  of  occupancy  is  as  good  in  one  place  as  in  another. 
There  cannot  be  two  occupations  in  the  same  place.  The  first 
excludes  all  others.     It  is  not  so  in  hunting  or  travelling;  for 


3fi4  TKCUMSEH,  OR    TKCUMTHA 

there  the  same  ground  will  serve  many,  as  they  may  follow 
each  other  all  day;  but  the  camp  is  stationary,  and  that  is 
occupancy.  It  belongs  to  the  first  who  sits  down  on  his 
blanket  or  skins  which  he  has  thrown  upon  the  ground;  and 
till  he  leaves  it  no  other  has  a  right. 


SPEECH  TO  GENERAL  PROCTOR 

[The  following  speech,  "  in  the  name  of  the  Indian  chiefs  and  warriors 
to  Major-General  Proctor,  as  the  representative  of  their  Great  Father, 
the  King,"  is  supposed  to  have  been  delivered  a  short  time  prior  to  the 
battle  of  the  Thames,  October  5,  1813.] 


FATHER,  listen  to  your  children!  you  have  them  now 
all  before  you.  The  war  before  this  our  British  father 
gave  the  hatchet  to  his  red  children,  when  old  chiefs 
were  alive.  They  are  now  dead.  In  that  war  our  father  was 
thrown  on  his  back  by  the  Americans,  and  our  father  took 
them  by  the  hand  without  our  knowledge;  and  we  are  afraid 
that  our  father  will  do  so  again  at  this  time. 

Summer  before  last,  when  I  came  forward  with  my  red 
brethren  and  was  ready  to  take  up  the  hatchet  in  favor  of  our 
British  father,  we  were  told  not  to  be  in  a  hurry,  that  he  had 
not  yet  detemiined  to  fight  the  Americans. 

Listen!  When  war  was  declared,  our  father  stood  up  and 
gave  us  the  tomaliawk,  and  told  us  that  he  was  ready  to  strike 
the  Americajis;  that  he  wanted  our  assistance,  and  that  he 
would  certainly  get  us  our  lands  back,  which  the  Americans 
had  taken  from  us. 

Listen!  You  told  us,  at  that  time,  to  bring  forward  our 
families  to  this  place,  and  we  did  so;  and  you  promised  to 
take  care  of  them,  and  that  they  should  want  for  nothing 


SPEECH    TO    GENERAL    PROCTOR  3Q5 

while  the  men  would  go  and  fight  the  enemy.  That  we  need 
not  trouble  ourselves  about  the  enemy's  garrisons;  that  we 
knew  nothing  about  them,  and  that  our  father  would  attend 
to  that  part  of  the  business.  You  also  told  your  red  children 
that  you  would  take  good  care  of  your  garrison  here,  which 
made  our  hearts  glad. 

Listen!  When  we  were  last  at  the  Rapids,  it  is  true  we 
gave  you  little  assistance.  It  is  hard  to  fight  people  who  live 
like  ground-hogs. 

Father,  listen!  Our  fleet  has  gone  out;  we  know  they  have 
fought ;  we  have  heard  the  great  guns ;  but  know  nothing  of 
what  has  happened  to  our  father  with  one  arm.  Our  ships 
have  gone  one  way,  and  we  are  much  astonished  to  see  our 
father  tying  up  everything  and  preparing  to  run  away  the 
other,  without  letting  his  red  children  know  what  his  inten- 
tions are.  You  always  told  us  to  remain  here  and  take  care  of 
our  lands.  It  made  our  hearts  glad  to  hear  that  was  your 
wish.  Our  great  father,  the  King,  is  the  head,  and  you  repre- 
sent him.  You  always  told  us  that  you  would  never  draw 
your  foot  off  British  ground;  but  now,  father,  we  see  you  are 
drawing  back,  and  we  are  sorry  to  see  our  father  doing  so  with- 
out seeing  the  enemy.  We  must  compare  our  father's  conduct 
to  a  fat  animal  that  carries  its  tail  upon  its  back,  but  when 
affrighted   it  drops  it  between  its  legs  and  runs  off. 

Listen,  father !  The  Americans  have  not  yet  defeated  us 
by  land;  neither  are  we  sure  that  they  have  done  so  by  water 
—  we  therefore  wish  to  remain  here  and  fight  our  enemy 
should  they  make  their  appearance.  If  they  defeat  us,  we 
will  then  retreat  with  our  father. 

At  the  battle  of  the  Rapids,  last  war,  the  Americans  cer- 
tainly defeated  us;  and  when  we  retreated  to  our  father's  fort 
in  that  place  the  gates  were  shut  against  us.     We  were  afraid 


366  TECUMSEH,  OR    TECUMTHA 

that  it  would  now  be  the  case,  but  instead  of  that  we  now 
see  our  British  father  preparing  to  march  out  of  his  garrison. 
Father!  You  have  got  the  arms  and  ammunition  which 
our  great  father  sent  for  his  red  children.  If  you  have  an 
idea  of  going  away,  give  them  to  us,  and  you  may  go  and 
welcome,  for  us.  Our  lives  are  in  the  hands  of  the  Great 
Spirit.  We  are  determined  to  defend  our  lands,  and  if  it  is 
his  will  we  wish  to  leave  our  bones  upon  them. 


GEORGE   CANNING 


GEORGE    CANNING 


[eorge  Canning,  British  statesman,  orator,  and  man  of  letters,  was  born  of 
Irish  parents  at  London,  April  11,  1770,  and  died  at  Chiswick  (seat  of  the 
Duke  of  Devonshire),  Aug.  8,  1827.  He  was  educated  at  Eton  and  at 
Oxford  by  his  uncle,  Stratford  Canning,  where  he  was  soon  known  for  his 
ability  and  wit,  which  was  afterward  abundantly  manifested  in  his  writings,  as  well  as 
in  his  showy  though  brilliant  eloquence  in  Parliament,  and  in  his  power  as  a  burlesquer 
and  lampoonist.  In  1794,  he  entered  Parliament  under  the  auspices  of  Pitt,  who  two 
years  later  appointed  him  under-secretary  of  State.  At  this  time  he  took  a  rather 
reactionary  course  in  politics,  opposing  Parliamentary  reform  and  peace  with  France, 
though  aiding  Wilberforce  in  his  efforts  to  abolish  the  Slave  trade.  Later  in  his  career 
he  evinced,  if  not  his  liberalism,  his  progressive  spirit  and  thorough  goodness  of  heart 
by  aiding  Grattan  in  the  latter's  efforts  on  behalf  of  Catholic  emancipation  and  in 
furthering  the  union  with  Ireland.  From  180-1  to  180(5  he  was  treasurer  of  the  navy, 
from  1807  to  1809  minister  for  foreign  affairs,  and  from  1814  to  1816  served  as 
ambassador  at  Lisbon.  In  1822,  on  the  suicide  of  Lord  Castlereagh,  he  succeeded  him 
in  the  secretaryship  of  foreign  affairs,  and  in  1827  reached  the  premiership  as  successor 
to  Lord  Liverpool,  but  died  while  forming  his  cabinet.  His  talents  were  great  as  a 
speaker,  the  effect  of  his  speeches  being  heightened  by  piquancy  and  a  notable  mother 
wit.  The  latter  he  especially  showed  in  his  amusing  parodies  in  the  "  Anti-Jacobin," 
and  in  the  familiar  "Needy  Knife-Grinder."  For  his  gift  as  a  speaker  and  orator, 
see  his  collected  speeches,  by  R.  Therry ;  also  his  "Life"  by  Bell,  and  "Canning 
and  His  Times,"  by  Stapleton. 


ON   AFFORDING   AID  TO  PORTUGAL 

[England  had  been  for  nearly  two  centuries  the  ally  and  protector  of  Portugal  and 
was  bound  to  defend  her  when  attacked. 

In  1826,  a  body  of  absolutists,  headed  by  the  Queen  Dowager  and  the  Marquess  of 
Chaves,  attempted  to  destroy  the  existing  Portuguese  government,  which  had  been 
founded  on  the  basis  of  constitutional  liberty.  This  government  had  been  acknowledged 
by  England,  France,  Austria,  and  Russia.  It  was,  however,  obnoxious  to  Ferdinand, 
king  of  Spain ;  and  Portugal  was  invaded  from  the  Spanish  territory  by  large  bodies  of 
Portuguese  absolutists,  who  had  been  there  organized  with  the  connivance,  if  not  the 
direct  aid,  of  the  Spanish  government. 

The  Portuguese  government  now  demanded  the  assistance  of  England.  Five 
thousand  troops  were  therefore  instantly  ordered  to  Lisbon,  and  Mr.  Canning  came 
forward  in  this  speech  to  explain  the  reasons  of  his  prompt  intervention.  The'  speech, 
delivered  in  the  House  of  Commons,  Dec.  12,  1826,  is  considered  the  masterpiece 
of  his  eloquence.] 

(367) 


368  GKORGB    CANNING 


M 


R.  SPEAKER, —  In  proposing  to  the  House  of  Com- 
mons to  acknowledge,  by  an  humble  and  dutiful 
address,  his  Majesty's  most  gracious  message,  and  to 
reply  to  it  in  terms  which  will  be,  in  effect,  an  echo  of  the 
sentiments  and  a  fulfillment  of  the  anticipations  of  that  mes- 
sage, I  feel  that,  however  confident  I  may  be  in  the  justice, 
and  however  clear  as  to  the  policy,  of  the  measures  therein 
announced,  it  becomes  me,  as  a  British  minister  recommend- 
ing to  Parliament  any  step  which  may  approximate  this  coun- 
try even  to  the  hazard  of  a  war,  while  I  explain  the  grounds 
of  that  proposal,  to  accompany  my  explanation  with  expres- 
sions of  regret. 

I  can  assure  the  House  that  there  is  not  within  its  walls 
any  set  of  men  more  deeply  convinced  than  his  Majesty's  min- 
isters—  nor  any  individual  more  intimately  persuaded  than 
he  who  has  now  the  honor  of  addressing  you  —  of  the  vital 
importance  of  the  continuance  of  peace  to  this  countr}-  and  to 
the  world. 

So  strongly  am  I  impressed  Avith  this  opinion  —  and  for 
reasons  of  which  I  will  put  the  House  more  fully  in  possession 
before  I  sit  down  —  that  I  declare  there  is  no  question  of 
doubtful  or  controverted  policy  —  no  opportimity  of  present 
national  advantage  —  no  precaution  against  remote  difficulty 
—  which  I  would  not  glady  compromise,  pass  over,  or  adjourn, 
rather  than  call  on  Parliament  to  sanction,  at  this  moment, 
any  measure  which  had  a  tendency  to  involve  the  country  in 
war. 

But  at  the  same  time,  sir,  I  feel  that  which  has  been  felt, 
in  the  best  times  of  English  history,  by  the  best  statesmen  of 
this  country',  and  by  the  Parliaments  by  whom  those  statesmen 
were  supported  —  I  feel  that  there  are  two  causes,  and  but 
two  causes,  which  cannot  be  either  compromised,  passed  over. 


ON  AFFORDING  AID  TO  PORTUGAL  3b9 

or  adjourned.  These  causes  are,  adherence  to  the  national 
faith   and  regard  for  the  national  honor. 

Sir,  if  I  did  not  consider  both  these  causes  as  involved  in 
the  proposition  which  I  have  this  day  to  make  to  you,  I  should 
not  address  the  House,  as  I  now  do,  in  the  full  and  entire 
confidence  that  the  gracious  communication  of  his  Majesty  will 
be  met  by  the  House  with  the  concurrence  of  which  his 
Majesty  has  declared  his  expectation. 

In  order  to  bring  the  matter  which  I  have  to  submit  to  you 
under  the  cognizance  of  the  House  in  the  shortest  and  clear- 
est manner,  I  beg  leave  to  state  it,  in  the  first  instance,  divested 
of  any  collateral  considerations.  It  is  a  case  of  law  and  of 
fact:  of  national  law  on  the  one  hand,  and  of  notorious  fact 
on  the  other;  such  as  it  must  be,  in  my  opinion,  as  impossible 
for  Parliament  as  it  was  for  the  government  to  regard  in 
any  but  one  light,  or  to  come  to  any  but  one  conclusion 
upon  it. 

Among  the  alliances  by  which,  at  different  periods  of  our 
history,  this  country  has  been  connected  with  the  other  nations 
of  Europe,  none  is  so  ancient  in  origin  and  so  precise  in  obli- 
gation—  none  has  continued  so  long  and  been  observed  so 
faithfully  —  of  none  is  the  memory  so  intimately  interwoven 
with  the  most  brilliant  records  of  our  triumphs,  as  that  by 
which  Great  Britain  is  connected  with  Portugal. 

It  dates  back  to  distant  centuries;  it  has  survived  an  end- 
less variety  of  fortunes.  Anterior  in  existence  to  the  accession 
of  the  house  of  Braganza  to  the  throne  of  Portugal,  it 
derived,  however,  fresh  vigor  from  that  event;  and  never, 
from  that  epoch  to  the  present  hour,  has  the  independent 
monarchy  of  Portugal  ceased  to  be  nurtured  by  the  friendship 
of  Great  Britain. 

This  alliance  has  never  been  seriously  interrupted;  but  it 

Vol.  4—24 


370  GKORGK    CANNING 

has  been  renewed  by  repeated  sanctions.  It  has  been  main- 
tained under  difficulties  by  which  the  fidelity  of  other  alli- 
ances were  shaken,  and  has  been  vindicated  in  fields  of  blood 
and  of  glory. 

That  the  alliance  with  Portugal  has  been  always  unquali- 
fiedly advantageous  to  this  country — that  it  has  not  been 
sometimes  inconvenient  and  sometimes  burdensome  —  I  am 
not  bound  or  prepared  to  maintain.  But  no  British  states- 
man, so  far  as  I  know,  has  ever  suggested  the  expediency  of 
shaking  it  off;  and  it  is  assuredly  not  at  a  moment  of  need  that 
honor  and  what  I  may  be  allowed  to  call  national  sympathy 
would  permit  us  to  weigh  with,  an  over-scrupulous  exact- 
ness the  amount  of  difficulties  and  dangers  attendant  upon 
its  faithful  and  steadfast  observance.  What  feelings  of 
national  honor  would  forbid  is  forbidden  alike  by  the  plain 
dictates  of  national  faith. 

It  is  not  at  distant  periods  of  history  and  in  bygone  ages 
only  that  the  traces  of  the  union  between  Great  Britain  and 
Portugal  are  to  be  found.  In  the  last  compact  of  modern 
Europe,  the  compact  which  forms  the  basis  of  its  present  inter- 
national law  —  I  mean  the  treaty  of  Vienna  of  1815 — this 
country,  with  its  eyes  open  to  the  possible  inconveniences  of 
the  connection,  but  with  a  memory  awake  to  its  past  benefits, 
solemnly  renewed  the  previously  existing  obligations  of  alli- 
ance and  amity  with  Portugal.  I  will  take  leave  to  read  to 
the  House  the  third  article  of  the  treaty  concluded  at  Vienna, 
in  1815,  between  Great  Britain  on  the  one  hand,  and  Portugal 
on  the  other.     It  is  couched  in  the  following  terms: 

"  The  treaty  of  alliance,  concluded  at  Rio  de  Janeiro,  on 
the  19th  of  February,  1810,  being  founded  on  circumstances 
of  a  temporary  nature  which  have  happily  ceased  to  exist,  the 
Baid  treaty  is  hereby  declared  to  be  void  in  all  its  parts,  and  of 


ON    AFFORDING    AID    TO    PORTUGAL  371 

no  effect;  without  prejudice,  however,  to  the  ancient  treaties 
of  alliance,  friendship,  and  guarantee,  which  have  so  long  and 
so  happily  subsisted  between  the  two  Crowns,  and  which  arc 
hereby  renewed  by  the  high  contracting  parties  and  acknowl- 
edged to  be  of  full  force  and  effect." 

In  order  to  appreciate  the  force  of  this  stipulation  —  recent 
in  point  of  time,  recent,  also,  in  the  sanction  of  Parliament  — 
the  House  will  perhaps  allow  me  to  explain  shortly  the  cir- 
cumstances in  reference  to  which  it  was  contracted. 

In  the  year  1807,  when,  upon  the  declaration  of  Bona- 
parte that  the  house  Braganza  had  ceased  to  reign,  the  King 
of  Portugal,  by  the  advice  of  Great  Britain,  was  induced  to 
set  sail  for  the  Brazils ;  almost  at  the  very  moment  of  his  most 
faithful  Majesty's  embarkation,  a  secret  convention  was 
signed  between  his  Majesty  and  the  King  of  Portugal,  stip- 
ulating that,  in  the  event  of  his  most  faithful  Majesty's  estab- 
lishing the  seat  of  his  government  in  Brazil,  Great  Britain 
would  never  acknowledge  any  other  dynasty  than  that  of  the 
house  of  Braganza  on  the  throne  of  Portugal. 

That  convention,  I  say,  was  contemporaneous  with  the 
migration  to  the  Brazils;  a  step  of  great  importance  at  the 
time,  as  removing  from  the  grasp  of  Bonaparte  the  sovereign 
family  of  Braganza.  Afterward,  in  the  year  1810,  when  the 
seat  of  the  King  of  Portugal's  government  was  established  at 
Rio  de  Janeiro,  and  when  it  seemed  probable,  in  the  then 
apparently  hopeless  condition  of  the  affairs  of  Europe,  that  it 
was  likely  long  to  continue  there,  the  secret  convention  of 
1807,  of  which  the  main  object  was  accomplished  by  the  fact 
of  the  emigration  to  Brazil,  was  abrogated,  and  a  new  and 
public  treaty  was  concluded,  into  which  was  transferred  the 
stipulation  of  1807,  binding  Great  Britain,  so  long  as  his 
faithful  Majesty  should  be  compelled  to  reside  in  Brazil,  not 


372  GEORGE    CANNING 

to  acknowledge  any  other  sovereign  of  Portugal  than  a  mem- 
ber of  the  house  of  Braganza.  That  stipulation,  which  had 
hitherto  been  secret,  thus  became  patent,  and  part  of  the 
known  law  of  nations. 

In  the  year  1814,  in  consequence  of  the  happy  conclusion 
of  the  war,  the  option  was  afforded  to  the  King  of  Portugal 
of  returning  to  his  European  dominions.  It  was  then  felt 
that,  as  the  necessity  of  his  most  faithful  Majesty's  absence 
from  Portugal  had  ceased,  the  ground  for  the  obligation  origi- 
nally contracted  in  the  secret  convention  of  1807,  and  after- 
ward transfen-ed  to  the  patent  treaty  of  1810,  was  removed. 
The  treaty  of  1810  was  therefore  annulled  at  the  Congress 
of  Vienna,  and,  in  lieu  of  the  stipulation  not  to  acknowledge 
any  other  sovereign  of  Portugal  than  a  member  of  the  house 
of  Braganza,  was  substituted  that  Avhich  I  have  just  read  to 
the  House. 

Annulling  the  treaty  of  1810,  the  treaty  of  Vienna  renews 
and  confirms  (as  the  House  will  have  seen)  all  former  treaties 
between  Great  Britain  and  Portugal,  describing  them  as 
"  ancient  treaties  of  alliance,  friendship,  and  guarantee ;  "  as 
having  "  long  and  happily  subsisted  between  the  two  Crowns;  " 
and  as  being  allowed,  by  the  two  high  contracting  parties,  to 
remain  "  in  full  force  and  effect." 

What,  then,  is  the  force  —  what  is  the  effect  of  those 
ancient  treaties?  I  am  prepared  to  show  to  the  House  what 
it  is.  But  before  I  do  so  I  must  say  that  if  all  the  treaties 
to  which  this  article  of  the  treaty  of  Vienna  refers  had  per- 
ished by  some  convulsion  of  nature,  or  had  by  some  extra- 
ordinary accident  been  consigned  to  total  oblivion,  still  it 
would  be  impossible  not  to  admit,  as  an  incontestable  infer- 
ence from  this  article  of  the  treaty  of  Vienna  alone,  that  in  a 
moral  point  of  view  there  is  incmnbent  on  Great  Britain 


ON    AFFORDING    AID    TO    PORTUGAL  373 

a   decided   obligation   to    act   as   the    effectual    defender    of 
Portugal. 

If  I  could  not  show  the  letter  of  a  single  antecedent  stip- 
ulation I  should  still  contend  that  a  solemn  admission,  only 
ten  years  old,  of  the  existence  at  that  time  of  "  treaties  of  alli- 
ance, friendship,  and  guarantee,"  held  Great  Britain  to  the 
discharge  of  the  obligations  which  that  very  description 
implies.  But  fortunately  there  is  no  such  difficulty  in  speci- 
fying the  nature  of  those  obligations.  All  of  the  preceding- 
treaties  exist ;  all  of  them  are  of  easy  reference,  all  of 
them  are  known  to  this  country,  to  Spain,  to  every  nation  of 
the  civilized  world.  They  are  so  numerous,  and  their  gen- 
eral result  is  so  imiform,  that  it  may  be  sufficient  to  select  only 
two  of  them  to  show  the  nature  of  all. 

The  first  to  which  I  shall  advert  is  the  treaty  of  1661,  which 
was  concluded  at  the  time  of  the  marriage  of  Charles  the 
Second  with  the  Infanta  of  Portugal.  After  reciting  the 
marriage,  and  making  over  to  Great  Britain,  in  consequence  of 
that  marriage,  first,  a  considerable  sum  of  money,  and,  sec- 
ondly, several  important  places,  some  of  which,  as  Tangier, 
we  no  longer  possess;  but  others  of  which,  as  Bombay,  still 
belong  to  this  country,  the  treaty  runs  thus: 

"  In  consideration  of  all  which  grants,  so  much  to  the  ben- 
efit of  the  King  of  Great  Britain  and  his  subjects  in  general, 
and  of  the  delivery  of  those  important  places  to  his  said  Maj- 
esty and  his  heirs  forever,  etc.,  the  King  of  Great  Britain  does 
profess  and  declare,  with  the  consent  and  advice  of  his  coun- 
cil, that  he  will  take  the  interests  of  Portugal  and  all  its 
dominions  to  heart,  defending  the  same  with  his  utmost  power 
by  sea  and  land,  even  as  England  itself." 

It  then  proceeds  to  specify  the  succors  to  be  sent,  and  the 
manner  of  sending  them. 

I  come  next  to  the  treaty  of  1703,  a  treatv  of  alliance  con- 


374 


GKORGK    CANNING 


temporaneous  with  the  Methuen  treaty,  which  has  regulated, 
for  upward  of  a  century,  the  commercial  relations  of  the  two 
countries.  The  treaty  of  1703  was  a  tripartite  engagement 
between  the  States-General  of  Holland,  England,  and  Portu- 
gal.    The  second  article  of  that  treaty  sets  forth  that — 

"  If  ever  it  shall  happen  that  the  Kings  of  Spain  and  France, 
either  the  present  or  the  future,  that  both  of  them  together, 
or  either  of  them  separately,  shall  make  war,  or  give  occa- 
sion to  suspect  that  they  intend  to  make  war  upon  the  king- 
dom of  Portugal,  either  on  the  continent  of  Europe  or  on  its 
dominions  beyond  the  seas;  her  Majesty  the  Queen  of  Great 
Britain,  and  the  lords  the  States-General,  shall  use  their 
friendly  offices  with  the  said  Kings,  or  either  of  them,  in  order 
to  persuade  them  to  observe  the  terms  of  peace  toward  Por- 
tugal, and  not  to  make  war  upon  it." 

The  third  article  declares — 

"  That  in  the  event  of  these  good  offices  not  proving  suc- 
cessful, but  altogether  ineifectual,  so  that  war  should  be  made 
by  the  aforesaid  Kings,  or  by  either  of  them,  upon  Portugal, 
the  above-mentioned  powers  of  Great  Britain  and  Holland 
shall  make  war  with  all  their  force  upon  the  aforesaid  Kings 
or  King  who  shall  carry  hostile  arnls  into  Portugal;  and 
toward  that  war  which  shall  be  carried  on  in  Europe  they  shall 
supply  twelve  thousand  men,  whom  they  shall  arm  and  pay, 
as  well  when  in  quarters  as  in  action;  and  the  said  high  allies 
shall  be  obliged  to  keep  that  number  of  men  complete,  by 
recruiting  it  from  time  to  time  at  their  own  expense." 

I  am  aware,  indeed,  that  with  respect  to  either  of  the  treaties 
which  I  have  quoted  it  is  possible  to  raise  a  question  — 
whether  variation  of  circumstances  or  change  of  times  may 
not  have  somewhat  relaxed  its  obligations.  The  treaty  of 
1661,  it  might  be  said,  was  so  loose  and  prodigal  in  the  word- 
ing, it  is  so  unreasonable,  so  wholly  out  of  nature,  that 
any  one  country  should  be  expected  to  defend  another,  "  even 
as  itself ;  "  such  stipulations  are  of  so  exaggerated  a  character 


ON  AFFORDING  AID  TO  PORTUGAL  37-1 

as  to  resemble  effusions  of  feeling    rather  than  enunciations 
of  deliberate  compact. 

Again,  with  respect  to  the  treaty  of  1703,  if  the  case  rested 
on  that  treaty  alone,  a  question  might  be  raised  whether  or 
not,  when  one  of  the  contracting  parties  —  Holland  —  had 
since  so  changed  her  relations  with  Portugal  as  to  consider 
her  obligations  under  the  treaty  of  1703  as  obsolete — whether 
or  not,  I  say,  under  such  circumstances,  the  obligation  on  the 
remaining  party  be  not  likewise  void.  I  should  not  hesitate 
to  answer  both  these  objections  in  the  negative. 

But  without  entering  into  such  a  controversy  it  is  suffi- 
cient for  me  to  say  that  the  time  and  place  for  taking  sucii 
objections  was  at  the  Congress  at  Vienna.  Then  and  there  it 
was  that  if  you,  indeed,  considered  these  treaties  as  obsolete, 
you  ought  frankly  and  fearlessly  to  have  declared  them  to  be 
so.  But  then  and  there,  with  your  eyes  open,  and  in  the  face 
of  all  modem  Europe,  you  proclaimed  anew  the  ancient 
treaties  of  alliance,  friendship,  and  guarantee,  ''  so  long  sub- 
sisting between  the  Crowns  of  Great  Britain  and  Portugal," 
as  still  "  acknowledged  by  Great  Britain  "  and  still  "  of  full 
force  and  effect."  It  is  not,  however,  on  specific  articles 
alone ;  it  is  not  so  much,  perhaps,  on  either  of  these  ancient 
treaties,  taken  separately,  as  it  is  on  the  spirit  and  understand- 
ing of  the  whole  body  of  treaties,  of  which  the  essence  is  con- 
centrated and  preserved  in  the  treaty  of  Vienna,  that  we 
acknowledge  in  Portugal  a  right  to  look  to  Great  Britain  as 
her  ally  and  defender. 

This,  sir,  being  the  state,  morally  and  politically,  of  our 
obligations  toward  Portugal,  it  is  obvious  that  when  Portugal, 
in  apprehension  of  the  coming  storm,  called  on  Great  Britain 
for  assistance,  the  only  hestitation  on  our  part  could  be  — 
not  whether  that  assistance  was  due,  supposing  the  occasion 


376  GEORGE    CANNING 

for  demanding  it  to  arise,  but  simply  whether  that  occasion, 
in  other  words,  whether  casus  foederis  had  arisen. 

I  understand,  indeed,  that  in  some  quarters  it  has  been 
imputed  to  his  Majesty's  ministers  that  an  extraordinary  delay 
intervened  between  the  taking  of  the  determination  to  give 
assistance  to  Portugal  and  the  carrying  of  that  determination 
into  effect.  But  how  stands  the  fact?  On  Sunday,  the  third 
of  this  month,  we  received  from  the  Portuguese  ambassador 
a  direct  and  formal  demand  of  assistance  against  a  hostile 
aggression  from  Spain.  Our  answer  was,  that  although 
rumors  had  reached  us  through  France  his  Majesty's  govern- 
ment had  not  that  accurate  information  —  that  official  and 
precise  intelligence  of  facts  —  on  which  they  could  properly 
found  an  application  to  Parliament.  It  was  only  on  last  Fri- 
day night  that  this  precise  information  arrived.  On  Saturday 
his  Majesty's  confidential  servants  came  to  a  decision.  On 
Sunday  that  decision  received  the  sanction  of  his  Majesty. 
On  Monday  it  was  communicated  to  both  Houses  of  Parlia- 
ment; and  this  day,  sir,  at  the  hour  in  which  I  have  the  honor 
of  addressing  you,  the  troops  are  on  their  march  for  embarka- 
tion. 

I  trust,  then,  sir,  that  no  unseemly  delay  is  imputable  to 
government.  But  undoubtedly,  on  the  other  hand,  when  the 
claim  of  Portugal  for  assistance,  a  claim  clear,  indeed,  in 
justice,  but  at  the  same  time  fearfully  spreading  in  its  possi- 
ble consequences,  came  before  us,  it  was  the  duty  of  his 
Majesty's  government  to  do  nothing  on  hearsay.  The  event- 
ual force  of  the  claim  was  admitted;  but  a  thorough  knowl- 
edge of  facts  was  necessary  before  the  compliance  with  that 
claim  could  be  granted.  The  government  here  labored  under 
some  disadvantage.  The  rumors  which  reached  us  through 
Madrid  were  obviously  distorted,  to  answer  partial  political 


ON  AFFORDING  AID  TO  PORTUGAL  377 

purposes;  and  the  intelligence  through  the  press  of  France, 
though  substantially  correct,  was,  in  particulars,  vague  and 
contradictory.  A  measure  of  grave  and  serious  moment  could 
never  be  founded  on  such  authority;  nor  could  the  ministers 
come  down  to  Parliament  until  they  had  a  confident  assur- 
ance that  the  case  which  they  had  to  lay  before  the  legislature 
was  tnie  in  all  its  parts. 

But  there  was  another  reason  which  induced  a  necessarv 
caution.  In  former  instances  when  Portugal  applied  to  this 
country  for  assistance  the  whole  power  of  the  state  in  Portu- 
gal was  vested  in  the  person  of  the  monarch.  The  expression 
of  his  wish,  the  manifestation  of  his  desire,  the  putting  forth 
of  his  claim,  was  sufficient  gTound  for  immediate  and  decisive 
action  on  the  part  of  Great  Britain,  supposing  the  casus 
foederis  to  be  made  out.  But,  on  this  occasion,  inquiry  was 
in  the  first  place  to  be  made  whether,  according  to  the  new 
constitution  of  Portugal,  the  call  upon  Great  Britain  was 
made  with  the  consent  of  all  the  powers  and  authorities  com- 
petent to  make  it,  so  as  to  carry  with  it  an  assurance  of  that 
reception  in  Portugal  for  our  anny  which  the  army  of  a 
friend  and  ally  had  a  right  to  expect.  Before  a  British  sol- 
dier should  put  his  foot  on  Portuguese  ground,  nay,  before  he 
should  leave  the  shores  of  England,  it  was  our  duty  to  ascer- 
tain that  the  step  taken  by  the  Regency  of  Portugal  was  taken 
with  the  cordial  concurrence  of  the  legislature  of  that  coun- 
try. It  was  but  this  morning  that  we  received  intelligence  of 
the  proceedings  of  the  Chambers  at  Lisbon,  which  establishes 
the  fact  of  such  concurrence.  This  intelligence  is  contained 
in  a  dispatch  from  Sir  W.  A'Court,  dated  29th  of  November, 
of  which  I  will  read  an  extract  to  the  House : 

"  The  day  after  the  news  arrived  of  the  entry  of  the  rebels 
into  Portugal,  the  ministers  demanded  from  the  Chambers 


378  GEORGE    CANNING 

an  extension  of  power  for  the  executive  government,  and  the 
permission  to  apply  for  foreign  succors,  in  virtue  of  ancient 
treaties,  in  the  event  of  their  being  deemed  necessary.  The 
deputies  gave  the  requisite  authority  by  acclamation ;  and 
an  equally  good  spirit  was  manifested  by  the  peers,  who 
granted  every  power  that  the  ministers  could  possibly  require. 
They  even  went  further,  and,  rising  in  a  body  from  their 
seats,  declared  their  devotion  to  their  country,  and  their 
readiness  to  give  their  personal  services,  if  necessary,  to 
repel  any  hostile  invasion.  The  Duke  de  Cadaval,  president 
of  the  Chamber,  was  the  first  to  make  this  declaration ;  and 
the  minister  who  described  this  proceeding  to  me  said  it  was 
a  movement  worthy  of  the  good  days  of  Portugal !  " 

I  have  thus  incidentally  disposed  of  the  supposed  imputation 
of  delay  in  complying  with  the  requisition  of  the  Portuguese 
government.  The  main  question,  however,  is  this:  Was  it 
obligatory  upon  us  to  comply  with  that  requisition  ?  In  other 
words,  had  the  casus  foederis  arisen  ?  In  our  opinion  it  had. 
Bands  of  Portuguese  rebels,  armed,  equipped,  and  trained  in 
Spain,  had  crossed  the  Spanish  frontier,  carrying  terror  and 
devastation  into  their  own  countiy,  and  proclaiming  sometimes 
the  brother  of  the  reigning  sovereign  of  Portugal,  sometimes 
a  Spanish  princess,  and  sometimes  even  Ferdinand  of  Spain, 
as  the  rightful  occupant  of  the  Portuguese  throne.  These 
rebels  crossed  the  frontier,  not  at  one  point  only,  but  at  several 
points;  for  it  is  remarkable  that  the  aggression  on  which  the 
original  application  to  Great  Britain  for  succor  was  founded 
is  not  the  aggression  with  reference  to  which  that  application 
has  been  complied  with. 

The  attack  announced  by  the  French  newspapers  was  on 
the  north  of  Portugal,  in  the  province  of  Tras-os-Montes;  an 
official  account  of  which  has  been  received  by  his  Majesty's 
government  only  this  day.  But  on  Friday  an  account  was 
received  of  an  invasion  in  the  south  of  Portugal,  and  of  the 


ON    AFFORDING    AID    TO    PORTUGAL  379 

capture  of  Villa  Yiciosa,  a  town  lying  on  the  road  from  the 
southern  frontier  to  Lisbon.  This  new  fact  established  even 
more  satisfactorily  than  a  mere  confirmation  of  the  attack  first 
complained  of  would  have  done,  the  systematic  nature  of  the 
aggression  of  Spain  against  Portugal.  One  hostile  irruption 
might  have  been  made  by  some  single  corps  escaping  from 
their  quarters  —  by  some  body  of  stragglers  who  might  have 
evaded  the  vigilance  of  Spanish  authorities;  and  one  such 
accidental  and  unconnected  act  of  violence  might  not  have 
been  conclusive  evidence  of  cognizance  and  design  on  the  part 
of  those  authorities :  but  when  a  series  of  attacks  are  made 
along  the  whole  line  of  a  frontier  it  is  difficult  to  deny  that 
such  multiplied  instances  of  hostility  are  evidence  of  concerted 
aggression. 

If  a  single  company  of  Spanish  soldiers  had  crossed  the 
frontier  in  hostile  array,  there  could  not,  it  is  presumed,  be  a 
doubt  as  to  the  character  of  that  invasion.  Shall  bodies  of 
men,  armed,  clothed,  and  regimented  by  Spain,  carry  fire  and 
sword  into  the  bosom  of  her  unoffending  neighbor ;  and  shall 
it  be  pretended  that  no  attack,  no  invasion  has  taken  place, 
because,  forsooth,  these  outrages  are  committed  against  Portu- 
gal by  men  to  whom  Portugal  had  given  birth  and  nurture? 
What  petty  quibbling  would  it  be  to  say  that  an  invasion  of 
Portugal  from  Spain  was  not  a  Spanish  invasion  because 
Spain  did  not  employ  her  own  troops,  but  hired  mercenaries 
to  effect  her  purpose?  And  what  difference  is  it,  except  as 
an  aggravation,  that  the  mercenaries  in  this  instance  were 
natives  of  Portugal. 

I  have  already  stated,  and  I  now  repeat,  that  it  never  has 
been  the  wish  or  the  pretension  of  the  British  government 
to  interfere  in  the  internal  concerns  of  the  Portuguese  nation. 
Questions  of  that  kind  the  Portuguese  nation  must  settle 


380  GEORGE    CANNING 

among  themselves.  But  if  we  were  to  admit  that  hordes  of 
traitorous  refugees  from  Portugal,  with  Spanish  arms,  or  arms 
furnished  or  restored  to  them  bj  Spanish  authorities,  in  their 
hands,  might  put  off  their  country  for  one  purpose  and  put 
it  on  again  for  another  —  put  it  off  for  the  purpose  of  attack, 
and  put  it  on  again  for  the  purpose  of  impunity  —  if,  I  say, 
we  were  to  admit  this  juggle,  and  either  pretend  to  be  deceived 
by  it  ourselves,  or  attempt  to  deceive  Portugal,  into  a  belief 
that  there  was  nothing  of  external  attack,  nothing  of  foreign 
hostility,  in  such  a  system  of  aggression  —  such  pretence  and 
attempt  would  perhaps  be  only  ridiculous  and  contemptible; 
if  they  did  not  acquire  a  much  more  serious  character  from 
being  employed  as  an  excuse  for  infidelity  to  ancient  friend- 
ship, and  as  a  pretext  for  getting  rid  of  the  positive  stipula- 
tions of  treaties. 

This,  then,  is  the  case  which  I  lay  before  the  House  of  Com- 
mons. Here  is,  on  the  one  hand,  an  undoubted  pledge  of 
national  faith,  not  taken  in  a  corner,  not  kept  secret  be- 
tween the  parties,  but  publicly  recorded  among  the  annals 
of  history,  in  the  face  of  the  world.  Here  are,  on  the  other 
hand,  undeniable  acts  of  foreign  aggression,  perpetrated, 
indeed,  principally  through  the  instrumentality  of  domestic 
traitors,  but  supported  with  foreign  means,  instigated  by  for- 
eign  councils,  and  directed  to  foreign  ends.  Putting  these 
facts  and  this  pledge  together,  it  is  impossible  that  his  Majesty 
should  refuse  the  call  that  has  been  made  upon  him;  nor  can 
Parliament,  I  am  convinced,  refuse  to  enable  his  Majesty  to 
fulfill  his  undoubted  obligations.  I  am  willing  to  rest  the 
whole  question  of  to-night,  and  to  call  for  the  vote  of  the 
House  of  Commons  upon  this  simple  case,  divested  altogether 
of  collateral  circumstances  from  which  I  especially  wish  to 
separate  it   in  the  minds  of  those  who  hear  me,  and  also  in 


ON   AFFORDING    AID    TO    PORTUGAL  381 

the  minds  of  otliers  to  whom  what  I  now  say  mil  find  its 
way.  If  I  were  to  sit  down  this  moment,  without  adding 
another  word,  I  have  no  doubt  but  that  I  should  have  the 
concurrence  of  the  House  in  the  address  which  I  mean  to 
propose. 

When  I  state  this,  it  will  be  obvious  to  the  House  that 
the  vote  for  which  I  am  about  to  call  upon  them  is  a  vote 
for  the  defense  of  Portugal,  not  a  vote  for  war  against  Spain. 
I  beg  the  House  to  keep  these  two  points  entirely  distinct  in 
their  consideration.  For  the  former  I  think  I  have  said 
enough.  If,  in  what  I  have  now  further  to  say,  I  should  bear 
hard  upon  the  Spanish  government,  I  beg  that  it  may  be 
observed  that,  unjustifiable  as  I  shall  show  their  conduct  to 
have  been  —  contrary  to  the  law  of  nations,  contrary  to  the 
law  of  good  neighborhood,  contrary,  I  might  say,  to  the  laws 
of  God  and  man  —  with  respect  to  Portugal  —  still  I  do  not 
mean  to  preclude  a  locus  pcenitentice,  a  possibility  of  redress 
and  reparation.  It  is  our  duty  to  fly  to  the  defence  of  Port- 
ugal, be  the  assailant  who  he  may.  And  be  it  remembered 
that  in  thus  fulfilling  the  stipulation  of  ancient  treaties,  of 
the  existence  and  obligation  of  which  all  the  world  are  aware, 
we,  according  to  the  universally  admitted  construction  of  the 
law  of  nations,  neither  make  war  upon  that  assailant,  nor  give 
to  that  assailant,  much  less  to  any  other  power,  just  cause  of 
war  against  ourselves. 

Sir,  the  present  situation  of  Portugal  is  so  anomalous,  and 
the  recent  years  of  her  history  are  crowded  with  events  so 
unusual,  that  the  House  will,  perhaps,  not  think  that  I  am 
unprofitably  wasting  its  time  if  I  take  the  liberty  of  calling 
its  attention,  shortly  and  succinctly,  to  those  events,  and  to 
their  influence  on  the  political  relations  of  Europe.  It  is 
known  that  the  consequence  of  the  residence  of  the  king  of 


382  GEORGE    CANNING 

Portugal  in  Brazil  was  to  raise  the  latter  countr}^  from  a 
colonial  to  a  metropolitan  condition;  and  that,  from  the  time 
when  the  King  began  to  contemplate  his  return  to  Portugal, 
there  grew  up  in  Brazil  a  desire  of  independence  that 
threatened  dissension,  if  not  something  like  civil  contest, 
between  the  European  and  American  dominions  of  the  house 
of  Braganza.  It  is  known,  also,  that  Great  Britain  undertook 
a  mediation  between  Portugal  and  Brazil,  and  induced  the 
King  to  consent  to  a  separation  of  the  two  Crowns  —  confirm- 
ing that  of  Brazil  on  the  head  of  his  eldest  son.  The  ink  Avith 
which  this  agreement  was  written  was  scarcely  dry  when  the 
unexpected  death  of  the  King  of  Portugal  produced  a  new  state 
of  things  which  reunited  on  the  same  head  the  two  Crowns 
which  it  had  been  the  policy  of  England,  as  well  as  of  Portugal 
and  of  Brazil,  to  separate.  On  that  occasion  Great  Britain 
and  another  European  court  closely  connected  ^^^th  Brazil 
tendered  advice  to  the  Emperor  of  Brazil,  now  become  King 
of  Portugal,  which  advice  it  cannot  be  accurately  said  that  his 
Imperial  Majesty  followed,  because  he.  had  decided  for  him- 
self before  it  reached  Rio  de  Janeiro;  but  in  conform if\'  vnth. 
which  advice,  though  not  in  consequence  of  it,  his  Imperial 
Majesty  determined  to  abdicate  the  Crown  of  Portugal  in 
favor  of  his  eldest  daugliter.  But  the  Emperor  of  Brazil  had 
done  more.  AVhat  had  not  been  foreseen  —  what  would  have 
been  beyond  the  province  of  any  foreign  power  to  advise  — 
his  Imperial  Majesty  had  accompanied  liis  abdication  of  the 
Crown  of  Portugal  witli  the  grant  of  a  free  constitutional 
charter  for  that  kingdom.  It  has  been  surmised  that  this 
measure,  as  well  as  the  abdication  which  it  accompanied,  was 
the  offspring  of  our  advice.  Xo  such  thing  —  Great  Britain 
did  not  suggest  this  measure.  It  is  not  her  duty  nor  her  prac- 
tice to  offer  suggestions  for  the  internal  regulation  of  foreign 


ON    AFFORDING    AID    TO    PORTUGAL  38o 

States.  She  neither  approved  nor  disapproved  of  the  grant 
of  a  constitutional  charter  to  Portugal;  her  opinion  upon  that 
grant  was  never  required. 

True  it  is  that  the  instrument  of  the  constitutional  charter 
was  brought  to  Europe  by  a  gentleman  of  high  trust  in  the 
service  of  the  British  government.  Sir  C.  Stuart  had  gone 
to  Brazil  to  negotiate  the  separation  between  that  country 
and  Portugal.  In  addition  to  his  character  of  plenipotentiary 
of  Great  Britain,  as  the  mediating  power,  he  had  also  been 
invested  by  the  King  of  Portugal  with  the  character  of  his 
most  faithful  Majesty's  plenipotentiary  for  the  negotiation 
with  Brazil.  That  negotiation  had  been  brought  to  a  happy 
conclusion;  and  therewith  the  British  part  of  Sir  C.  Stuart's 
commission  had  terminated. 

But  Sir  C.  Stuart  was  still  resident  at  Rio  de  Janeiro  as  the 
plenipotentiary  of  the  King  of  Portugal  for  negotiating  com- 
mercial arrangements  between  Portugal  and  Brazil.  In  this 
latter  character  it  was  that  Sir  C.  Stuart,  on  his  return  to 
Europe,  was  requested  by  the  Emperor  of  Brazil  to  be  the 
bearer  to  Portugal  of  the  new  constitutional  charter. 

His  Majesty's  government  found  no  fault  with  Sir  C. 
Stuart  for  executing  this  commission;  but  it  was  immediately 
felt  that  if  Sir  C.  Stuart  were  allowed  to  remain  at  Lisbon  it 
might  appear  in  the  eyes  of  Europe  that  England  was  the 
contriver  and  imposer  of  the  Portuguese  constitution.  Sir  C. 
Stuart  was  therefore  directed  to  return  home  forthwith,  in 
order  that  the  constitution,  if  carried  into  effect  there,  might 
plainly  appear  to  be  adopted  by  the  Portuguese  nation  itself, 
not  forced  upon  them  by  English  interference. 

As  to  the  merits,  sir,  of  the  new  constitution  of  Portugal,  I 
have  neither  the  intention  nor  the  right  to  offer  any  opinion. 
Personally   I  may  have  fonned  one;  but  as  an  English  min- 


384  GEORGE    CANNING 

ister  all  I  have  to  say  is,  "  May  God  prosper  this  attempt  at 
the  establishment  of  constitutional  liberty  in  Portugal!  and 
may  that  nation  be  found  as  fit  to  enjoy  and  to  cherish  its  new- 
bom  privileges  as  it  has  often  proved  itself  capable  of  dis- 
charging its  duties  among  the  nations  of  the  world !  " 

I,  sir,  am  neither  the  champion  nor  the  critic  of  the  Portu- 
guese constitution.  But  it  is  admitted  on  all  hands  to  have 
proceeded  from  a  legitimate  source  —  a  consideration  which 
has  mainly  reconciled  continental  Europe  to  its  establishment; 
and  to  us,  as  Englishmen,  it  is  recommended  by  the  ready 
acceptance  which  it  has  met  with  from  all  orders  of  the  Portu- 
guese people.  To  that  constitution,  therefore,  thus  unques- 
tioned in  its  origin,  even  by  those  who  are  most  jealous  of  new 
institutions  —  to  that  constitution,  thus  sanctioned  in  its  out- 
set by  the  glad  and  grateful  acclamations  of  those  who  are 
destined  to  live  under  it  —  to  that  constitution,  founded  on 
principles  in  a  great  degree  similar  to  those  of  our  own, 
though  differently  modified  —  it  is  impossible  that  English- 
men should  not  wish  well. 

But  it  would  not  be  for  us  to  force  that  constitution  on  the 
people  of  Portugal  if  they  were  unwilling  to  receive  it,  or  if 
any  scliism  should  exist  among  the  Portuguese  themselves  as 
to  its  fitness  and  congeniality  to  the  wants  and  wishes  of  the 
nation.  It  is  no  business  of  ours  to  fight  its  battles.  We  go 
to  Portugal  in  the  discharge  of  a  sacred  obligation  contracted 
under  ancient  and  modern  treaties. 

"When  there,  nothing  shall  be  done  by  us  to  enforce  the 
establishment  of  the  constitution ;  but  we  must  take  care  that 
nothing  shall  be  done  by  others  to  prevent  it  from  being  fairly 
carried  into  effect.  Internally,  let  the  Portuguese  settle  their 
own  affairs;  but  with  respect  to  external  force,  while  Great 
Britain  has  an  arm  to  raise,  it  must  be  raised  against  the 


ON    AFFORDING    AID    TO    PORTUGAL  385 

efforts  of  any  power  that  should  attempt  forcibly  to  control 
the  choice  and  fetter  the  independence  of  Portugal. 

Has  such  been  the  intention  of  Spain?  Whether  the  pro- 
ceedings which  have  lately  been  practised  or  permitted  in 
Spain  were  acts  of  a  government  exercising  the  iisual  power 
of  prudence  and  foresight  (without  which  a  government  is,  for 
the  good  of  the  people  which  live  under  it,  no  government  at 
all),  or  whether  they  were  the  acts  of  some  secret  illegitimate 
power  —  of  some  curious  fanatical  faction,  overriding  the 
counsels  of  the  ostensible  government,  defying  it  in  the  capital, 
and  disobeying  it  on  the  frontiers  —  I  will  not  stop  to  inquire. 

It  is  indifferent  to  Portugal,  smarting  under  her  wrongs  — 
it  is  indifferent  to  England,  who  is  called  upon  to  avenge 
them  —  whether  the  present  state  of  things  be  the  result  of 
the  intrigues  of  a  faction,  over  which,  if  the  Spanish  govern- 
ment has  no  control,  it  ought  to  assume  one  as  soon  as  pos- 
sible —  or  of  local  authorities,  over  whom  it  has  control,  and 
for  whose  acts  it  must  therefore  be  held  responsible.  It 
matters  not,  I  say,  from  which  of  these  sources  the  evil  has 
arisen.  In  either  case  Portugal  must  be  protected ;  and  from 
England  that  protection  is  due. 

It  would  be  unjust,  however,  to  the  Spanish  government, 
to  say  that  it  is  only  among  the  members  of  that  government 
that  an  unconquerable  hatred  of  liberal  institutions  exists  in 
Spain.  However  incredible  the  phenomenon  may  appear  in 
this  country,  I  am  persuaded  that  a  vast  majority  of  the 
Spanish  nation  entertain  a  decided  attachment  to  arbitrary 
power  and  a  predilection  for  absolute  government.  The 
more  liberal  institutions  of  countries  in  the  neighborhood  have 
not  yet  extended  their  influence  into  Spain,  nor  awakened  any 
sympathy  in  the  mass  of  the  Spanish  people.  Whether  the 
public  authorities  of  Spain  did   or  did  not  partake  of  the 

Vol.  4—25 


386  GEORGE    CANNING 

national  sentiment,  there  would  almost  necessarily  grow  up 
between  Portugal  and  Spain,  under  present  circumstances,  an 
opposition  of  feelings  which  it  would  not  require  the  authority 
or  the  suggestions  of  the  government  to  excite  and  stimulate 
into  action.  Without  blame,  therefore,  to  the  government 
of  Spain  —  out  of  the  natural  antipathy  between  the  two 
neighboring  nations ;  the  one  prizing  its  recent  freedom,  the 
other  hugging  its  traditionary  servitude  —  there  might  arise 
mutual  provocations  and  reciprocal  injuries  which  perhaps 
even  the  most  active  and  vigilant  ministry  could  not  altogether 
restrain. 

I  am  inclined  to  believe  that  such  has  been,  in  part  at  least, 
the  origin  of  the  diiferences  between  Spain  and  Portugal. 
That  in  their  progress  they  have  been  adopted,  matured, 
methodized,  combined,  and  brought  into  more  perfect  action, 
by  some  authority  more  united  and  more  efficient  than  the 
mere  feeling  disseminated  through  the  mass  of  the  community, 
is  certain;  but  I  do  believe  their  origin  to  have  been  as  much 
in  the  real  sentiment  of  the  Spanish  population  as  in  the 
opinion  or  contrivance  of  the  governriient  itself. 

Whether  this  be  or  be  not  the  case  is  precisely  the  question 
between  us  and  Spain.  If,  though  partaking  in  the  general 
feelings  of  the  Spanish  nation,  the  Spanish  government  has, 
nevertheless,  done  nothing  to  embody  those  feelings  and  to 
direct  them  hostilely  against  Portugal ;  if  all  that  has  occurred 
on  the  frontiers  has  occurred  only  because  the  vigilance  of  the 
Spanish  government  has  been  surprised,  its  confidence  betrayed, 
and  its  orders  neglected ;  if  its  engagements  have  been 
repeatedly  and  shamefully  violated,  not  by  its  own  good  will, 
but  against  its  recommendation  and  desire  —  let  us  see  some 
symptoms  of  disapprobation,  some  signs  of  repentance,  some 
measures  indicative  of  sorrow  for  the  past    and  of  sincerity 


ON    AFFORDING    AID    TO    PORTUGAL  387 

for  the  future.  In  that  case  his  Majesty's  message,  to  which 
I  propose  this  night  to  return  an  answer  of  concurrence,  will 
retain  the  character  which  I  have  ascribed  to  it  —  that  of  a 
measure  of  defence  for  Portugal,  not  a  measure  of  resentment 
against  Spain. 

With  these  explanations  and  qualifications  let  us  now  pro- 
ceed to  the  review  of  facts.  Great  desertions  took  place  from 
the  Portuguese  army  into  Spain,  and  some  desertions  took  place 
from  the  Spanish  army  into  Portugal.  In  the  first  instance 
the  Portuguese  authorities  were  taken  by  surprise ;  but  in 
every  subsequent  instance,  where  they  had  an  opportunity 
of  exercising  a  discretion,  it  is  but  just  to  say  that  they  uni- 
formly discouraged  the  desertions  of  the  Spanish  soldiery. 
There  exist  between  Spain  and  Portugal  specific  treaties  stipu- 
lating the  mutual  surrender  of  deserters. 

Portugal  had,  therefore,  a  right  to  claim  of  Spain  that  every 
Portuguese  deserter  should  be  forthwith  sent  back.  I  hardly 
know  whether  from  its  own  impulse,  or  in  consequence  of  our 
advice,  the  Portuguese  government  waived  its  right  under 
those  treaties;  very  wisely  reflecting  that  it  would  be  highly 
inconvenient  to  be  placed,  by  the  return  of  their  deserters, 
in  the  difficult  alternative  of  either  granting  a  dangerous 
amnesty    or  ordering  numerous  executions. 

The  Portuguese  government,  therefore,  signified  to  Spain 
that  it  would  be  entirely  satisfied  if,  instead  of  surrendering 
the  deserters,  Spain  would  restore  their  arms,  horses,  and 
equipments ;  and,  separating  the  men  from  their  officers,  would 
remove  both  from  the  frontiers  into  the  interior  of  Spain. 

Solemn  engagements  were  entered  into  by  the  Spanish  gov- 
ernment to  this  effect,  first  with  Portugal,  next  with  France, 
and  afterward  with  England.  Those  engagements,  concluded 
one  day,  were  violated  the  next.     The  deserters,  instead  of 


388  GEORGE    CANNING 

being  disarmed  and  dispersed,  were  allowed  to  remain  congre- 
gated together  near  the  frontiers  of  Portugal,  where  they  were 
enrolled,  trained,  and  disciplined  for  the  expedition  which 
they  have  since  undertaken.  It  is  plain  that  in  these  pro- 
ceedings there  was  perfidy  somewhere. 

It  rests  with  the  Spanish  government  to  show  that  it  was 
not  with  them.  It  rests  with  the  Spanish  government  to 
prove  that,  if  its  engagements  have  not  been  fulfilled  —  if  its 
intentions  have  been  eluded  and  unexecuted  —  the  fault  has 
not  been  with  the  government,  and  that  it  is  ready  to  make 
every  reparation  in  its  power. 

I  have  said  that  these  promises  were  made  to  France  and  to 
Great  Britain  as  well  as  to  Portugal.  I  should  do  a  great 
injustice  to  France  if  I  were  not  to  add  that  the  representa- 
tions of  that  government  upon  this  point  to  the  cabinet  of 
Madrid  have  been  as  urgent,  and,  alas!  as  fruitless,  as  those 
of  Great  Britain.  Upon  the  first  irruption  into  the  Portu- 
guese territory,  the  French  government  testified  its  displeasure 
by  instantly  recalling  its  ambassador ;  and  it  further  directed 
its  charge  cf affaires  to  signify  to  his  Catholic  Majesty  that 
Spain  was  not  to  look  for  any  support  from  France  against 
the  consequences  of  this  aggression  upon  Portugal. 

I  am  bound,  I  repeat,  in  justice  to  the  French  government, 
to  state  that  it  has  exerted  itself  to  the  utmost  in  urging  Spain 
to  retrace  the  steps  which  she  has  so  unfortunately  taken.  It 
is  not  for  me  to  say  whether  any  more  efiicient  course  might 
have  been  adopted  to  give  efliect  to  their  exhortations;  but  as 
to  the  sincerity  and  good  faith  of  the  exertions  made  by  the 
government  of  France  to  press  Spain  to  the  execution  of  her 
engagements  I  have  not  the  shadow  of  a  doubt,  and  I  con- 
fidently reckon  upon  their  continuance. 

It  will  be  for  Spain,  upon  knowledge  of  the  step  now  taken 


ON    AFFORDING    AID    TO    PORTUGAL  389 

bj  his  Majesty,  to  consider  in  what  way  she  will  meet  it.  The 
earnest  hope  and  wish  of  his  Majesty's  government  is  that 
she  may  meet  it  in  such  a  manner  as  to  avert  any  ill  conse- 
quences to  herself  from  the  measure  into  which  we  have  been 
driven  by  the  unjust  attack  upon  Portugal. 

Sir,  I  set  out  with  saying  that  there  were  reasons  which 
entirely  satisfied  my  judgment  that  nothing  short  of  a  point  of 
national  faith  or  national  honor  would  justify,  at  the  present 
moment,  any  voluntaiy  approximation  to  the  possibility  of 
war. 

Let  me  be  understood,  however,  distinctly  as  not  meaning 
to  say  that  I  dread  war  in  a  good  cause  (and  in  no  other  may 
it  be  the  lot  of  tliis  country  ever  to  engage!)  from  a  distrust 
of  the  strength  of  the  country  to  commence  it,  or  of  her 
resources  to  maintain  it.  I  dread  it,  indeed  —  but  upon  far 
other  grounds:  I  dread  it  from  an  apprehension  of  the  tremen- 
dous consequences  which  might  arise  from  any  hostilities  in 
which  we  might  now  be  engaged. 

Some  years  ago,  in  the  discussion  of  the  negotiations 
respecting  the  French  war  against  Spain,  I  took  the  liberty 
of  adverting  to  this  topic.  I  then  stated  that  the  position  of 
this  country  in  the  present  state  of  the  world  was  one  of 
neutrality,  not  only  between  contending  nations,  but  between 
conflicting  principles;  and  that  it  was  by  neutrality  alone  that 
we  could  maintain  that  balance,  the  preservation  of  which  I 
believed  to  be  essential  to  the  welfare  of  mankind.  I  then 
said  that  I  feared  that  the  next  war  which  should  be  kindled 
in  Europe  would  be  a  war  not  so  much  of  armies  as  of  opinions. 

Not  four  years  have  elapsed,  and  behold  my  apprehension 
realized!  It  is,  to  bo  sure,  within  narrow  limits  that  this  war 
of  opinion  is  at  present  confined ;  but  it  is  a  war  of  opinion  that 
Spain  (whether  as  government  or  as  nation)  is  now  waging 


390  GEORGE    CANNING 

against  Portugal;  it  is  a  war  which  has  commeuced  in  hatred 
of  the  new  institutions  of  Portugal.  Ho\v  long  is  it  reason- 
able to  expect  that  Portugal  will  abstain  from  retaliation?  If 
into  that  war  this  country  shall  be  compelled  to  enter,  we 
shall  enter  into  it  with  a  sincere  and  anxious  desire  to  mitigate 
rather  than  exasperate,  and  to  mingle  only  in  the  conflict  of 
arms,  not  in  the  more  fatal  conflict  of  opinions. 

But  I  much  fear  that  this  country  (however  earnestly  she 
may  endeavor  to  avoid  it)  could  not,  in  such  case,  avoid  seeing 
ranked  under  her  banners  all  the  restless  and  dissatisfied  of 
any  nation  with  which  she  might  come  in  conflict.  It  is  the 
contemplation  of  this  new  power  in  any  future  war  which 
excites  my  most  anxious  apprehension.  It  is  one  thing  to 
have  a  giant's  strength,  but  it  would  be  another  to  use  it  like  a 
giant. 

The  consciousness  of  such  strength  is,  undoubtedly,  a  source 
of  confidence  and  security;  but  in  the  situation  in  which  this 
country  stands  our  business  is  not  to  seek  opportunities  of 
displaying  it,  but  to  content  ourselves  with  letting  the  pro- 
fessors of  violent  and  exaggerated  doctrines  on  both  sides  feel 
that  it  is  not  their  interest  to  convert  an  umpire  into  an 
adversary.  The  situation  of  England  amid  the  struggle  of 
political  opinions  which  agitates  more  or  less  sensibly  different 
countries  of  the  w^orld  may  be  compared  to  that  of  the  Ruler 
of  the  Winds  as  described  by  the  poet : 

"  Celsa  sedet  .^olus  arce, 
Sceptra  tenens;  moUitque  animos  et  temperat   Iras; 
Ni  faciat,  maria  ac  terras  ccelumque  profundum 
Quippe  ferant  rapidi  secum,  verrantque  per  auras."  ^ 


'.<Eolus  sits  upon  his  lofty  tower 
And  holds  the  sceptre,  calming  all  their  rage: 
Else  would  they  bear  sea,  earth,  and  heaven  profound 
In  rapid  flight,  and  sweep  them  through  the  air." 

Virgil's  JEneid,  book  1,  lines  56-59. 


ON    AFFORDING    AID    TO    PORTUGAL  391 

The  consequence  of  letting  loose  the  passions  at  present 
chained  and  confined  would  be  to  produce  a  scene  of  desola- 
tion which  no  man  can  contemplate  without  horror;  and  I 
should  not  sleep  easy  on  my  couch  if  I  were  conscious  that 
I -had  contributed  to  precipitate  it  by  a  single  moment. 

This,  then,  is  the  reason  —  a  reason  very  different  from 
fear  —  the  reverse  of  a  consciousness  of  disability,  why  I 
dread  the  recurrence  of  hostilities  in  any  part  of  Europe  ;  why 
I  would  bear  much  and  would  forbear  long ;  why  I  would  (as 
I  have  said)  put  up  mth  almost  anything  that  did  not  touch 
national  faith  and  national  honor  rather  than  let  slip  the  furies 
of  war,  the  leash  of  which  we  hold  in  our  hands  —  not  know- 
ing whom  they  may  reach  or  how  far  their  ravages  may  be 
carried.  Such  is  the  love  of  peace  which  the  British  govern- 
ment acknowledges;  and  such  the  necessity  for  peace  which 
the  circumstances  of  the  world  inculcate.  I  will  push  these 
topics  no  further. 

I  return,  in  conclusion,  to  the  object  of  the  Address.  Let 
us  fly  to  the  aid  of  Portugal,  by  whomsoever  attacked,  because 
it  is  our  duty  to  do  so ;  and  let  us  cease  our  interference  where 
that  duty  ends.  We  go  to  Portugal  not  to  rule,  not  to  dictate, 
not  to  prescribe  constitutions,  but  to  defend  and  to  preserve 
the  independence  of  an  ally.  We  go  to  plant  the  standard 
of  England  on  the  well-known  heights  of  Lisbon.  Where 
that  standard  is  planted,  foreign  dominion  shall  not  come. 


TRISTAM   BITRGES 

jiiisTAM  BuROES,  an  American  jurist  and  orator,  was  born  at  Rooliester, 
Mass.,  Feb.  26,  1770,  and  died  at  Providence,  K.  I.,  Oct.  13,  1853.  In 
1796,  he  graduated  from  Brown  University  and  after  studying  law  was 
admitted  to  the  Rhode  Island  Bar  in  1790  and  speedily  rose  to  high 
rank  in  his  profession.  His  strong  Federalist  views  carried  him  into  the  Rhode 
Island  legislature  in  1811.  In  1815,  he  was  appointed  chief-justice  of  the  Rhode 
Island  supreme  court,  and  from  1815  to  1825  he  held  the  chair  of  oratory  and  belles- 
lettres  in  his  alma  mater.  In  1825,  he  was  elected  to  Congress  and  served  continu- 
ously there  until  1835.  His  most  notable  speech  was  delivered  in  reply  to  John 
Randolph,  who  had  applied  the  classic  phrase,  " Dclenda  est  Carthaf/o,"  to  New 
England.  Burges's  indignant  oratory,  abounding  in  the  sharpest  sarcasm,  was  too 
much  for  Randolph  to  endure,  and  he  precipitately  left  the  hall  of  Representatives 
and  never  spoke  there  afterward.  Burges,  after  an  unsuccessful  fight,  in  1836,  for 
the  governorship  of  Rhode  Island,  resumed  his  professional  practice  and  died  in  his 
eighty-fourth  year.  He  published  various  orations  and  speeches,  "The  Battle  of 
Lake  Erie"  (1839),  and  several  poems.  See  the  "Memoirs,"  by  H.  L.  Bowen 
(Providence,  R.  I.,  1839). 

REBUKE   TO   RANDOLPH 

[A  subject  was  now  under  discussion,  of  vital  importance  to  the  Union — the 
tariff.  Mr.  Burges  having  observed,  in  the  course  of  an  argument  on  the  amend- 
ment to  the  bill  then  under  consideration,  that  there  was  a  disposition  among  some 
gentlemen  to  support  British  interests,  in  preference  to  American,  Mr.  Randolph 
rose  and  interrupted  him,  saying,  "This  hatred  of  aliens,  sir,  is  the  undecayed 
«pirit  which  called  forth  the  projjosition  to  enact  the  Alien  and  Sedition  Law:  I 
advise  the  gentleman  from  Rhode  Island  to  move  a  reenactment  of  those  laws,  to 
prevent  the  impudent  foreigner  from  rivalling  the  American  seller.  New  England, 
—  what  is  she?  Sir,  do  you  remember  that  appropriate  exclamation, —  '  Delenda 
4it  CartKagof'"] 

DOES  the  gentleman  mean  to  say,  sir,  Xew  England 
must  be  destroyed?  If  so,  I  will  remind  him  that 
the  fall  of  Carthage  was  the  precursor  of  the  fall 
of  Rome.  Permit  me  to  suggest  to  him, to  carry  out  the 
parallel.  Further,  sir,  I  wish  it  to  be  distinctly  understood 
that  I  am  not  bound  by  any  rules  to  argue  against  Bedlam, 
but    when  I  hear  anything  rational  in  the  hallucinations  of 

the  gentleman  I  will  answer  them, 
(392) 


REBUKE    TO    RANDOLPH  393 

[The  Speaker  interposed,  and  Mr.  Burges  resumed  his  seat, 
saying,  ''  Perhaps  it  is  better,  sir,  that  I  should  not  go  on/'' 
The  next  day  he  continued  his  speech  on  the  proposed 
amendment.  He  embraced  this  opportunity  to  refute  the 
assertion  made  by  Mr.  Randolph  a  few  days  previous  in  his 
remarks  on  the  same  subject.] 

This  attempt  to  destroy  all,  yes,  all  protection  of  New 
England  labor,  skill,  and  capital,  has,  by  the  gentleman  from 
Virginia  [Mr.  Eandolph] ,  being  justified  by  a  public  declara- 
tion ra^de  by  him,  in  his  place  on  this  floor,  that  the  whole 
capital  of  JSTew  England  originated  in  a  robbery;  a  robbery 
committed  more  than  forty  years  ago,  and  committed,  too,  on 
the  officers  and  soldiers  of  the  revolutionary  army.  If  it  were 
a  fact,  what  punishment  is  due  to  those  %v^o  perpetrated  the 
felony?  If  by  force,  the  gallow^s;  if  by  fraud,  the  loss  of 
ears,  and  the  pillory.  If  it  be  not  true,  what  is  merited  by 
him  who  has,  knowing  all  the  truth,  made  the  accusation? 
The  punishment,  sir,  he  merits,  which  would  have  alighted 
on  him  in  that  community  where  it  was  first  enacted:  ''  Thou 
shalt  not  bear  false  witness  against  thy  neighbor."  What 
was  that?  Lex  talionis,  "an  eye  for  an  eye."  He  who 
would,  by  false  accusation,  peril  the  life  or  limb  of  another, 
did  thereby  place  his  own  life  and  limbs  in  the  same  jeopardy. 
Let  judgment  pass  to  another  audit. 

"  Nor  what  to  oblivion  better  were  resigned, 
Be  hung  on  high  to  poison  half  mankind." 

In  the  RevolutionarA'  war  all  who  were  Whigs  and  patriots, 
all  who  were  not  Tories  and  enemies  to  their  country,  con- 
tended for  the  independence  of  the  United  States,  and  united 
their  whole  means  in  the  public  service.  When  the  war  was 
finished,  balances  were  due,  some  more,  some  less,  to  the  sev- 
eral States.  Balances  were  also  due  to  many  individuals 
who  had  furnished  supplies.     To  the  army  a  debt  of  gratitude 


394  TRISTAM    BURGKS 

was  due  which  the  world  has  not  wealth  enough  to  pay,  and 
the  United  States  owed  them,  moreover,  a  gi-eat  amount  of 
arrears  of  pay,  for  subsistence,  and  for  depreciation  of  that 
currency  in  which  they  had  for  several  years  of  the  war 
received  their  wages.  To  all  the  soldiers  who  had  continued 
in  service  from  1780  until  the  army  was  disbanded,  a  bounty 
was  due;  and  all  the  officers  who  had  served  from  the  same 
date  until  the  same  period  were  entitled  to  receive  half  the 
amount  of  their  monthly  pay  during  the  whole  term  of  their 
natural  lives. 

In  lieu  of  this  half  pay.  Congress,  after  the  close  of  the  war, 
promised  to  pay  all  such  officers  five  years'  full  pay  in  hand, 
in  money  or  security,  bearing  a  yearly  interest  of  six  per 
cent.  So  soon  as  it  could  be  effected,  all  those  several  cred- 
itors received  from  the  United  States,  by  officers  for  that  pur- 
pose by  Congress  appointed,  certain  certificates  of  the  sev- 
eral sums  due  to  each  individual  creditor.  These  certificates 
were  issued,  in  the  different  States,  to  the  creditors  of  the 
United  States,  belonging  to  such  States;  and  were  payable  to 
the  person  or  States  to  whom  the  same  were  due ;  or  to  bearer, 
on  demand,  with  interest.  These  certificates  were  the  evi- 
dences of  the  amount  of  the  domestic  debt  of  the  United 
States  to  each  of  the  States  and  to  each  individual  in  such 
States.  They  drew  interest  by  their  tenor,  and  were  payable 
on  demand  to  whomsoever  might  be  the  bearer  of  them. 
They  were,  and  were  intended  to  be,  a  circulating  medium. 
Had  the  United  States  been  in  funds  for  the  payment  of  them, 
or  of  the  interest,  the  medium  would,  in  tlie  absence  of  gold 
and  silver,  as  was  then  the  condition  of  the  United  States, 
have  been  equal  to  that  currency.  It  would  have  been  equal 
to  the  present  United  States  bank  paper,  or  to  the  United 
States  stocks.        The   nation   was   \\'ithout   funds    and   then 


REBUKE    TO    RANDOLPH  395 

Utterly  insolvent.  This  medium,  like  the  emissions  of  Conti- 
nental paper  bills,  fell  much  below  par. 

It  nevertheless  continued  to  circulate,  and  was,  as  Conti- 
nental bills  had  been  before  they  become  of  no  value,  a 
medium  of  exchange.  Men  went  to  market  with  it,  as  with 
other  paper  bills  with  which  they  had  been  accustomed  to  go 
to  market.  The  medium  had  a  market  value,  as  well  known, 
though  much  below  it,  as  the  market  value  of  silver  and  gold. 
Like  the  old  Continental  or  the  treasury  notes  of  the  last  war, 
or  the  bank  paper,  at  that  period,  of  all  the  banks  in  the  coun- 
try, excepting  j^ew  England,  it  passed  from  hand  to  hand 
by  delivery:  being  payable  to  bearer,  no  written  transfer  was 
required,  and,  the  market  value  being  generally  known,  every 
person  who  passed  it  away,  and  every  man  who  received  it, 
knew  at  what  price  it  was  so  passed,  and  governed  himself 
accordingly.  If  one  man  owed  for  goods  received,  or  wished 
to  purchase  goods  at  the  market,  to  the  amount  of  one  hun- 
dred dollars,  and  these  certificates,  then  a  circulating  medium, 
were  at  fifty  cents  for  a  dollar,  he  sent  two  hundred  dollars  to 
his  creditor  or  to  the  market.  If  they  were  at  twenty-five 
cents  he  sent  four  hundred  dollars;  if  at  twelve  and  a  half 
cents,  eight  hundred  dollars. 

This,  sir,  constituted  the  greatest  part  of  the  buying  and 
selling  done  in  the  market.  What  color  had  the  gentleman 
to  call  such  a  transaction  robbery?  Was  it  less  fair  and  hon- 
est than  dealing  in  any  other  medium  ? — in  Continental  bills, 
while  they  were  current  ? — in  treasury  notes,  twenty  per  cent 
below  par,  as  they  were  in  the  last  war? — in  the  depreciated 
paper  of  any  established — legally  established — bank  ?  Are 
not  all  of  this  description  of  paper  subjected  to  this  difficulty 
at  different  distances  from  the  ofiice  of  discount  and  payment  ? 

Why,  the  whole  paper  medium  of  the  world  is  at  a  discount 


396  TRISTAM    BURGKS 

at  any  commercially  calculated  distance  from  the  place  of  pay- 
ment, unless  prevented  by  the  accidents  of  trade.  When  I 
am  at  Providence,  is  not  a  note,  bill,  or  bond  of  any  stock 
payable  in  Providence  worth  more  to  me  than  if  payable  at 
Boston,  or  New  York,  or  Philadelphia,  or  Baltimore,  unless 
I  want  money  at  either  of  these  cities  ?  This,  sir,  creates  an 
exchange,  and  puts  all  the  paper  credit  at  a  discount  or  a 
premium  in  the  whole  commercial  world.  Is  it  a  felony  to 
deal  in  it,  because  depreciated  or  appreciated  ?  No  :  not,  sir, 
if  you  pay  the  market  value  for  it. 

These  two  circumstances,  distance  of  the  place  of  pay- 
ment, and  the  uncertainty  of  the  solvency  of  the  debtor, — the 
one  or  the  other,  and  often  both, — place  all  that  part  of  the 
circulating  medium  of  the  world  at  some  rate  of  discount, 
and  render  almost  all  exchanges  a  kind  of  barter,  to  be 
managed  by  a  price  current,  and  not  by  a  money  transaction. 
Even  gold  and  silver  vary  in  exchangeable  value,  and  it  is  only 
the  minor  operations  of  trade  which  are  governed  by  entire 
reference  to  the  standard  value  of  coin,  either  gold  or  silver. 
These  two  solid  mediums  have  an  exchange,  one  against  the 
other,  and,  in  all  great  transactions,  must  be  governed,  not 
by  the  laws  of  the  mint,  but  by  those  of  commerce,  bargain, 
and  convention. 

What  medium,  then,  shall  he  use?  What  shall  be  done  by 
the  gentleman  too  pure  to  deal  in  any  depreciating  medium  ? 
What  shall  be  done  when  his  hard-money  system  utterly, 
in  principle,  fails  him  ?  Turn  anchorite.  Deal  only  in  bacon, 
beans,  and  tobacco.  Here,  too,  the  curse  of  commerce  will 
meet  him;  and  the  want  of  an  eternal  standard  value,  by  the 
changing  market  value  of  his  glorious  staples,  will  leave  him 
to  the  necessary  bargaining  and  higgling  of  trade,  like  any 
mere  honest  mnn  of  this  world. 


REBUKE    TO    RANDOLPH  397 

Is  it  robbery,  sir,  is  it  robbery",  to  deal  in  anjtliiiig  depre- 
ciated in  market  value  below  its  original  cost?  May  we  not 
buy  that  to-day  which  cost  less  than  it  would  yesterday^ 
Then,  sir,  whatever  falls  in  price  must  forever  remain  unsold, 
unused,  unransomed,  and  perish  on  the  hands  of  the  first  pro- 
ducer. The  pressure  of  want  must  never  recall  retiring 
demand  by  a  diminution  of  price ;  but  all  who  did  not,  because 
they  could  not,  sell  at  the  top  of  the  market,  must  never  sell 
at  any  other  grade;  and  all  who  did  not  buy,  because  they 
could  not,  at  the  most  costly  price,  are  condemned  to  perish 
for  want  of  goods  w^iich  are  perishing  for  want  of  purchasers. 
This,  then,  is  the  hard-money  government  of  the  gentleman 
from  Virginia. 

The  revolutionary  soldiers  passed  off  their  certificates  at  the 
market  because  they  had  no  other  means  of  purchase;  and 
those  in  New  England  who  had  bread,  meat,  drink,  and  cloth- 
ing received  these  certificates  at  the  market  value  because 
they  could  get  no  better  medium  for  payment.  These  certifi- 
cates found  the  readiest  market  and  the  best  price  among 
those  people  who  had  most  regard  for  their  country  and  most 
confidence  in  public  faith  and  public  justice.  Men  who  knew 
that  the  United  States  were  insolvent,  as  all  did,  and  believe-d 
them  to  be  knaves,  as  some  did,  would  not  touch  a  certificate 
sooner  than  a  Continental  dollar,  worth  then  not  one  cent. 
Men  who  were  patriots,  and  honest  themselves,  and  had  the 
best  reason  (a  good  conscience  of  their  own)  to  think  other 
men  so,  would  not  leave  the  soldier  to  perish  because  he  had 
nothing  to  pay  for  his  bread  but  the  proof  of  his  services,  and 
the  plighted  faith  of  a  nation  of  patriots  and  heroes.  Was 
this,  sir,  robbery?  —  felony  against  the  valor  which,  steeped 
in  blood,  had  won  this  country? 

Then,  sir,  the  purest  deeds  are  profligacy,  things  sacred  are 


39R  TRISTAM    BDRGKS 

profane,  and  demons  shall  riot  in  the  spoils  of  redemption. 
It  is  true  the  disbanded  army  received  nowhere  relief  so  read- 
ily as  in  New  En.e:land.  Virginia,  as  the  gentleman  says,  did 
not  receive  their  depreciated  money.  Not  because  Virginia 
had  not  other  paper  money  to  give  for  it.  That  the  soldiers 
did  not  want.  All  paper  money  was  alike  to  them.  They  had 
been  ruined  by  it.  Their  own  certificates — the  price  of  their 
scars  and  unclosed  wounds — w^ere  in  their  hands, — the  best 
paper  money  then  in  circulation.  They  wanted  bread.  Vir- 
ginia was  then  the  land  of  corn ;  the  very  Egypt  of  the  United 
States.  They  did  not  buy.  They  chose  to  keep  their  wheat 
in  their  storehouses  rather  than  put  soldiers'  depreciated  cer- 
tificates, a  kind  of  old  Continental  money,  as  they  said,  in  their 
pockets.  With  Washington,  like  the  pious  patriarch  preach- 
ing righteousness  to  antediluvian  sinners,  even  with  him 
preaching  patriotism  and  public  faith,  they  would  not  believe 
—  not  barter  bread  and  relieve  hunger  —  no,  not  of  a  sol- 
dier— for  any  such  consideration. 

When  this  government  was  established;  when  this  nation 
redeemed  their  high  pledges  by  funding  and  providing  for 
that  medium  which  patriots  alone  had  with  that  hope  received, 
or  patriotic  soldiers  who  were  able  to  do  so  had  retained,  then 
public  justice  did — as  future  mercy  will  do — reward  all  who, 
■with  faith  in  her  high  integrity,  had  fed  the  hungrj^  and 
clothed  the  naked. 

Here  is  the  deep  fountain  of  the  gentleman's  abounding 
anathema  against  New  England.  They  began  the  Revolu- 
tion; they  relieved  the  army  who  conquered  the  colonies  from 
the  European  nation,  and  gave  the  American  people  their 
independence;  they  received  from  this  government,  by  the 
funding  system,  the  recompense  of  their  patriotism  and  pub- 
lic confidence.     These  are  injuries  too  high  to  be  forgiven 


REBUKE    TO    RANDOLPH 


399 


by  one  who  has  no  goods  but  others'  ills  —  no  evils  but  others' 
goods. 

"  This  government,"  says  the  gentleman,  "  was  by  the  con- 
stitution made  a  hard-money  government  because  that  con- 
stitution gave  them  the  power  to  '  coin  money.' " 

New  England  has  made  it  a  paper-money,  cotton-spinning 
government.  'New  England,  sir,  although  not  entitled  to 
the  honor  of  having  introduced  the  banking  system,  is  yet 
entitled  to  the  credit  of  never  having  departed  from  the  prin- 
ciples of  that  system  by  refusing  to  redeem  her  bills  mth 
silver  or  gold.  The  government,  by  establishing  the  fund- 
ing system,  established  the  great  banking  principle  in  the 
country.  All  these  sons  of  Mammon,  who  look  on  gold  and 
silver  as  the  only  true  riches,  will  regard  as  the  enemies  of  all 
righteousness  all  those  prudent  statesmen  who  consider 
money  as  merely  the  great  circulating  machine  in  the  produc- 
tion of  their  country.  It  therefore  becomes  highly  impor- 
tant to  furnish  so  necessary  and  costly  a  machine  at  the  least 
practicable  expenditure  of  labor  and  capital. 

Every  nation  must  be  supplied  with  this  circulating  medium 
in  amount  equal,  and  somewhat  more  than  equal,  to  all  its 
exchanges  necessarily  to  be  made  at  any  one  given  time. 
The  same  medium,  or  part  of  the  whole,  may  operate  different 
exchanges  at  different  times:  but  there  must  at  all  times  be 
in  the  nation  an  amount  equal  to  the  amount  of  exchanges 
in  operation  at  any  one  and  the  same  time.  This  medium 
may  be  all  money,  or  what  the  laws  have  adjudged  to  be  as 
money. 

It,  however,  in  all  trading  nations,  or,  which  is  the  same 
thing,  in  all  rich  nations,  does  consist  of  several  other  parts. 
All  the  stocks  representing  national  debts  are  one  part  of  this 
medium.     All  the  stocks  representing  the  debts  and  capital 


400  TRISTAM     B  URGES 

of  all  incorporated  companies  are  a  second  part.  All  the 
paper  representing  all  the  debts  of  individuals  and  unincor- 
porated trading  companies  is  a  third  part  of  this  medium  of 
circulation.  The  whole  money,  or  what  by  law  is  adjudged 
to  be  as  money,  makes  up  the  fourth  and  last  part  of  this 
great  machine  of  circulation,  sustaining  and  keeping  in  full 
work  all  the  money  production  of  any  country.  This  money 
was  anciently,  in  most  nations,  gold  and  silver.  The  modern 
invention  of  banking  is  thought  to  be  an  improvement. 

If  the  money  circulating  medium  of  this  nation  be,  as  prob- 
ably it  is,  $50,000,000,  the  cost  of  furnishing  that  amount 
must  be  equal  to  that  sum.  The  yearly  cost  must  be 
whatever  the  market  interest  may  be  in  the  whole  country. 
To  this  must  bo  added  the  amount  yearly  consumed  by  the 
wear  of  all  the  metallic  pieces,  whether  gold,  silver,  or  cop- 
per, of  which,  such  money  is  fabricated.  This  may  be  three 
per  cent.  The  very  great  cost  of  transporting  such  a  weight 
of  money  to  make  all  the  ready  exchanges  of  the  immense 
trade  of  our  country  cannot  readily  be  appreciated  or  even 
conceived  by  men  accustomed  to  the  accommodation  of 
bank  bills  for  all  such  exchanges.  Six  per  cent  per  annum 
would  not  be  a  high  charge  for  this  cost.  The  whole  expense 
would  be,  per  annum,  fifteen  per  cent  at  the  least,  and  in  the 
whole  amount,  $7,500,000. 

If  the  banking  system  be,  as  it  is,  substituted  for  this  Juird- 
money  circulation,  what  will  be  saved?  The  whole  success 
depends  on  one  principle.  If  men  receive  bank  bills  because 
they  believe  they  may,  whenever  they  call  for  it,  at  the  bank, 
receive,  for  such  bills,  their  amount  in  silver  or  gold,  they 
will  never  go  for  such  exchange  until  they  want  the  silver 
and  gold  for  some  purpose  for  which  the  bank  bills  cannot 
be  used.     How  often  this  may  be  cannot,  a  priori,  be  stated. 


REBUKE    TO    RANDOLPH  401 

Experience  has  solved  the  question.  It  has  been  found 
that  not  more  than  one  dollar  in  eight  will  usually  be  wanted 
for  any  such  purpose.  If,  therefore,  an  amount,  in  gold  and 
silver,  equal  to  the  one-eighth  part  of  the  circulating  money 
medium  be  kept  in  the  vaults  of  banks,  it  will  answer  all 
calls  for  specie  in  exchange  for  bank  bills.  With  a  money 
circulating  medium  in  your  country  equal  to  $50,000,000, 
you  must  keep  in  your  vaults  $6,250,000  in  silver  and  gold. 
The  yearly  interest  of  this,  at  six  per  cent,  is  $373,000. 

If  your  banking  houses  and  all  other  implements  of  trade 
cost  a  like  sum  per  annum,  or  $373,000 ;  then  the  whole  cost, 
annually,  of  your  money  medium,  will  be  $746,000.  The 
whole  saving  to  the  nation  equals  $6,754,000.  That  is  the 
hard-money  government  of  the  gentleman  from  Virginia,  sus- 
tained by  the  tobacco-planting  and  slave-labored  culture  of 
Roanoke.  This  the  banking  and  cotton-spinning  government 
of  New  England,  sustained  by  the  free-labored  corn  and  wool 
culture,  and  the  manufacturing  skill  of  the  North,  the  West, 
and  the  East. 

Which  is  most  productive  of  national  wealth,  comfort,  and 
independence  has  been  abundantly  demonstrated;  that  each 
is  equally  honest  and  constitutional  no  man  who  ever  looked 
into  the  world,  or  up  toward  heaven,  or  into  his  own  heart, — 
the  gentleman  alone,  always  excepted, — will  have  any  cause 
ever  to  doubt. 

One  objection  more  made  by  the  gentleman  to  banking,  and 
I  leave  him  to  his  own  mercy.  He  has  charged  the  banks 
in  New  England  ^vith  the  whole  moral  guilt  of  him  who 
lately,  by  fraud  and  peculation,  possessed  himself  of  the  funds 
of  a  certain  bank  in  Virginia.  He  has  quoted  the  great  canon 
of  the  Redeemer,  "  Lead  us  not  into  temptation." 

Thus  stands  his  arg-ument:  had  not  New  England  invented 

Vul.  4—26 

imk  Blie^  STATE  Oi 


402  TRISTAM    SURGES 

and  brought  into  use  the  banking  system,  this  Virginia  bank 
would  never  have  existed ;  and  therefore  his  friend  the  cash- 
ier would  not  have  been  trusted,  or  tempted,  or  have  trans- 
gressed. 

The  gentleman  from  Virginia  [Mr.  Randolph],  seems  to 
have — and  what  can  be  more  natural — a  great  sympathy  for 
all  but  honest  men.  Sir,  had  God  never  given  thee  aught 
that  is  thine  own,  he  need  never  have  said  unto  thee,  "  Thou 
shalt  not  covet  aught  that  is  thy  neighbor's."  The  gentleman 
has  discovered  a  new  mode  of  preventing  crimes:  destroy  all 
property,  and  you  lay  the  axe  to  the  very  root  of  all  trans- 
gression. Not  so,  robbery,  defrauded  of  his  spoil,  and  changed 
to  hungry,  lean,  gaunt  murder,  would  still  plunder,  for  blood, 
when  nothing  else  was  left  to  be  plundered. 

To  justify  the  Virginia  cashier,  the  gentleman  lays  the  sin 
at  the  door  of  New  England.  They  tempted,  and  but  for 
this  temptation  he  had  now  been  a  pure,  prosperous,  and  high- 
minded  gentleman.  This  apology  is  not  new  in  any  other 
respect  than  in  its  application.  He  must  have  drawn  it 
from  a  book  Avritten  in  the  second  century  by  a  Jewish  rabbi 
who  calls  himself  Ben  Mammon.  The  title  of  this  labored 
work  is,  "An  Apology  for  Iscariot."  The  whole  argument 
may  be  thus  shortly  stated.  "The  Nazarenes,"  says  this 
Hebrew  doctor,  "  accuse  this  man,  Iscariot,  without  cause. 
Nay,  they  themselves  were  the  authors  of  their  own  calamity. 
Jesus  himself  made  Iscariot  the  purser  of  the  whole  family, 
and,  by  putting  money  into  his  hands,  tempted  and  seduced 
him  into  avarice  and  covetousness.  If  this  had  not  been  done, 
this  much-injured  man  never  would  liave  delivered  up  his 
master  to  the  high  priest  or  sold  hhn  for  thirty  pieces  of 
silver." 

"It  is  also  manifest,"  continues  the  rabbi,  "that    had  the 


REBUKE    TO    RANDOLPH  403 

Nazarene  continued  at  home,  where  he  ought  to  have  con- 
tinued, and  in  his  carpenter's  shop,  and  at  his  own  trade,  he 
never  would  have  appointed  Iscariot  for  his  purser,  nor  ever 
have  been  betrayed  by  him. 

"  Iscariot  was  therefore  a  just  man,  and  has  been  grossly 
libelled  by  Matthew  the  publican,  who  wrote  the  story.  The 
guilt  of  this  man's  blood,  who  hanged  himself,  and  of  the 
innocent  blood,  as  he  says,  of  his  master,  is  on  the  head  of 
Jesus  himself,  the  founder  of  the  Christian  sect." 

Thus,  sir,  Ben  Mammon  justified  Iscariot  and  blasphemed 
Jesus;  and  thus,  too,  the  gentleman  from  Virginia  justifies 
his  honest  friend,  the  cashier;  and  calumniates  the  whole  labor, 
capital,  morals,  and  piety  of  Kew  England;  and  thus,  too, 
mutatis  mutandis,  would  he  liave  placed  a  diadem  on  the 
murderous  temples  of  Barrabas  and  planted  a  crown  of  thorns 
on  the  head  of  him  who  redeemed  the  world. 

Whence  all  this  abuse  of  New  England,  this  misrepresen- 
tation of  the  jSTorth  and  the  West?  It  is,  sir,  because  they, 
and  all  the  patriots  in  the  nation,  would  pursue  a  policy  cal- 
culated to  secure  and  pei-petuate  the  national  independence  of 
Great  Britain.  It  is  because  they  are  opposed  by  another 
policy,  which,  by  its  entire,  and  by  every  part  of  its  operation, 
will  inevitably  bring  the  American  people  into  a  condition 
of  dependence  on  Great  Britain  less  profitable  and  not  more 
to  our  honor   than  the  condition  of  colonies. 

I  cannot,  I  would  not  look  into  the  secrets  of  men's  hearts; 
but  the  nation  will  examine  the  nature  and  tendencies  of 
the  American  and  the  anti-American  systems;  and  they  can 
understand  the  arguments  offered  in  support  of  each  plan  of 
national  policy;  and  they,  too,  can  read  and  will  understand 
the  histories  of  all  public  men  and  of  those  two  systems  of 
national  policy.     Do  we,  as  it  has  been  insinuated,  support  the 


404  TRIRTAM    BURGKS 

American  policy  in  wrong  and  for  the  injury  and  damage 
of  Old  England?  I  do  not;  those  with  whom  I  have  the 
honor  to  act  do  not  pursue  this  course.     No,  sir, 

"  Not  that  I  love  England  less, 
But  that  I  love  my  country  more." 

Who,  sir,  would  wrong;  who  would  reduce  the  wealth,  the 
power  of  England?  "Who,  without  a  glorious  national  pride, 
can  look  to  that  as  to  our  mother  country?  It  is  the  land  of 
comfort,  accommodation,  and  wealth;  of  science  and  litera- 
ture; song,  sentiment,  heroic  valor,  and  deep,  various,  polit- 
ical philosophy.  Who  is  not  proud  that  our  fathers  were 
the  compeers  of  Wolfe;  that  Burke  and  Chatham  spoke  our 
mother  tongue  ?  Who  does  not  look  for  the  most  prosperous  eras 
in  the  world  when  English  blood  shall  warm  the  human  bosom 
over  the  habitable  breadth  of  every  zone:  when  English  liter- 
ature shall  come  under  the  eye  of  the  whole  world:  English 
intellectual  wealth  enrich  every  clime;  and  the  manners, 
morals,  and  religion  of  us  and  our  parent  country  spread 
civilization  under  the  w^holc  star-lighted  heaven;  and,  in  the 
very  language  of  our  deliberations,  the  hallowed  voice  of  daily 
prayer  shall  arise  to  God  throughout  every  longitude  of  the 
sun's  whole  race. 

I  would  follow  the  course  of  ordinary  experience;  render 
the  child  independent  of  the  parent;  and  from  the  resources 
of  his  own  industry,  skill,  and  prudence,  rich,  influential,  and 
powerful  among  nations.  Then,  if  the  period  of  age  and 
infirmity  shall, — as  God  send  it  may  never, — but  if  it  shall 
come,  then,  sir,  the  venerated  parent  shall  find  shelter  behind 
the  strong  right  hand  of  her  powerful  descendant.  .  .  . 

The  policy  of  the  gentleman  from  Virginia  calls  him  to 
a  course  of  legislation  resulting  in  the  entire  destruction  of 


REBUKE    TO    RANDOLPH  405 

one  part  of  this  Union.  Oppress  New  England  until  she  shall 
be  compelled  to  remove  her  manufacturing  labor  and  capital 
to  the  regions  of  iron,  wool,  and  grain;  and  nearer  to  those  of 
rice  and  cotton.  Oppress  New  England  until  she  shall  be 
compelled  to  remove  her  commercial  labor  and  capital  to  New 
York,  Norfolk,  Charleston,  and  Savannah. 

Finally,  oppress  that  proscribed  region  until  she  shall  be 
compelled  to  remove  her  agricultural  labor  and  capital  —  her 
agricultural  capital?  No,  she  cannot  remove  that.  Oppress 
and  compel  her,  nevertheless,  to  remove  her  agricultural  labor 
to  the  far-off  west;  and  there  people  the  savage  valley  and 
cultivate  the  deep  wilderness  of  the  Oregon.  She  must, 
indeed,  leave  her  agricultural  capital;  her  peopled  fields;  her 
hills  with  culture  carried  to  their  tops ;  her  broad,  deep  bays ; 
her  wide,  transparent  lakes,  long,  winding  rivers,  and  many 
waterfalls;  her  delightful  villages,  flourishing  towns,  and 
wealthy  cities.  She  must  leave  this  land,  bought  by  the 
treasure,  subdued  by  the  toil,  defended  by  the  valor  of  men, 
vigorous,  athletic,  and  intrepid;  men,  god-like  in  all  making 
man  resemble  the  moral  image  of  his  Maker;  a  land  endeared, 

9 

oh !  how  deeply  endeared,  because  shared  with  women  pure 
as  the  snows  of  their  native  mountains;  bright,  lofty,  and  over- 
awing as  the  clear,  circumambient  heavens,  over  their 
heads;  and  yet  lovely  as  the  fresh  opening  bosom  of  their  own 
blushing  and  blooming  June. 

"Mine  own  romantic  country,"  must  we  leave  thee?  Beau- 
tiful patrimony  of  the  wise  and  good;  enriched  from  the 
economy  and  ornamented  by  the  labor  and  perseverance  of 
two  hundred  years!  Must  we  leave  thee,  venerable  heritage 
of  ancient  justice  and  pristine  faith  ?  And,  God  of  our  fathers ! 
must  we  leave  thee  to  the  demagogues  who  have  deceived 
and  traitorously  sold  us?     We  must  leave  thee  to  them,  and 


406  TR18TAM    BURGKS 

to  the  remnants  of  the  Penobscots,  the  Peqnods,  the  Mohicans, 
and  Xarragansetts ;  that  they  may  lure  back  the  far-retired 
bear  from  the  distant  forest,  ag'ain  to  inhabit  in  the  young 
wilderness,  growing  up  in  our  flourishing  cornfields  and  rich 
meadows,  and  spreading,  with  briers  and  brambles,  over  our 
most  "pleasant  places." 

All  this  shall  come  to  pass,  to  the  intent  that  New  Eng- 
land may  again  become  a  lair  for  wild  beasts  and  a  hunting- 
ground  for  savages.  The  graves  of  our  parents  will  be  pol- 
luted, and  the  place  made  holy  by  the  first  footsteps  of  our 
Pilgrim  forefathers  become  profaned  by  the  midnight  orgies 
of  barbarous  incantation.  The  evening  wolf  shall  again  howl 
on  our  hills,  and  the  echo  of  his  yell  mingle  once  more  with 
the  sound  of  our  waterfalls.  The  sanctuaries  of  God  shall  be 
made  desolate.  Where  now  a  whole  people  congregate  in 
thanksgiving  for  the  benefactions  of  time,  and  in  humble  sup- 
plication for  the  mercies  of  eternity,  there  those  very  houses 
shall  then  bo  left  without  a  tenant.  The  owl,  at  noon-day, 
may  roost  on  the  high  altar  of  devotion,  and  the  "  fox  look  out 
at  the  "\\dndow  "  on  the  utter  solitude  of  a  jSTew  England 
Sabbath. 

New  England  shall  indeed;  under  this  proscribing  policy, 
be  what  Switzerland  was  under  that  of  France.  New  Eng- 
land, which,  like  Switzerland,  is  the  eagle-nest  of  freedom ; 
New  England,  where,  as  in  Switzerland,  the  cradle  of  infant 
liberty  "was  rocked  by  whirlwinds  in  their  rage;"  New 
England  shall,  as  Switzerland  was,  in  truth  be  "the  immo- 
lated victim  where  nothing  but  the  skin  remains  unconsumed 
by  the  sacrifice;"  New  England,  as  Switzerland  had,  shall 
have  "  nothing  left  but  her  rocks,  her  ruins,  and  her  dem- 
agogues." 

The  mind,  sir,  capable  of  conceiving  a  project  of  mischief 


REBUKE    TO    RANDOLPH  407 

60  gigantic  must  have  been  early  schooled  and  deeply  imbued 
with  all  the  great  principles  of  moral  evil. 

What,  then,  sir,  shall  we  say  of  a  spirit  regarding  this 
event  as  a  "consummation  devoutly  to  be  wished?" — a  spirit 
without  one  attribute  or  one  hope  of  the  pure  in  heart;  a 
spirit  which  begins  and  ends  everything,  not  with  prayer,  but 
with  imprecation;  a  spirit  which  blots  from  the  great  canon 
of  petition,  ''Give  us  this  day  our  daily  bread;"  that,  fore- 
going bodily  nutriment,  he  may  attain  to  a  higher  relish  for 
that  unmingled  food,  prepared  and  ser\'ed  up  to  a  soul  "  hun- 
gering and  thirsting  after  wickedness;"  a  spirit  which,  at 
every  rising  sun,  exclaims,  ^'Hodie!  hodiel  Carthago 
delenda ! "    "  To-day,  to-day !  let  New  England  be  destroyed!  " 

Sir,  divine  Providence  takes  care  of  his  own  universe.  Moral 
monsters  cannot  propagate.  Impotent  of  everj'thing  but 
malevolence  of  purpose,  they  can  no  otherwise  multiply  mis- 
eries than  by  blaspheming  all  that  is  pure,  and  prosperous, 
and  happy.  Could  demon  propagate  demon,  the  universe 
might  become  a  pandemonium;  but  I  rejoice  that  the  Father 
of  Lies  can  never  become  the  father  of  liars.  One  "  adversary 
of  God  and  man  "  is  enough  for  one  universe.  Too  much ! 
Oh!  how  much  too  much  for  one  nation. 


BISHOP     FRANZEIf 


^isHOP  Frans  Michael  Franzen,  the  son  of  a  humble  shopkeeper 
in  Uleaborg,  Finland,  w^  born  there  Feb.  9,  1772,  and  died  at 
Hernosand,  Sweden,  in  August,  1847.  He  studied  at  Abo,  then  the 
capital  of  Finland,  where  he  became  university  librarian  and  in 
1801  professor  of  history  and  ethics.  He  early  showed  poetical  talent,  and  at 
fifteen  had  written  several  popular  lyrics.  At  the  age  of  twenty-five  years  he 
won  the  prize  offered  by  the  Swedish  Academy  for  a  poem  on  a  special  sub- 
ject. His  poetical  work  is  marked  by  much  beauty  and  deals  largely  with 
themes  inspired  by  nature,  and  with  the  home  affections.  Some  of  his  poems 
for  children  are  exquisite  in  form  and  sentiment.  He  was  appointed  Bishop  of 
Hernosand  in  1832,  and  for  ten  years  was  secretary  of  the  Swedish  Academy. 
One  of  his  best-known  works  was  a  translation  of  the  Psalms;  other  writings 
of  his    include    religious    songs   and   some   idyllic   and   didactic   poems. 


"THE  SWORD  SHALL   PIERCE   THY   HEART" 

PAUSE  for  a  moment,  you  who  wander  lonely  in  the 
eve  of  life!  Your  shadow,  growing  longer  at  every 
step  you  take,  tells  yon  that  night  is  drawing  nigh. 
Pause  for  a  moment's  look  ui^n  that  world  from  which  you 
refuse  to  separate  your  heart  though  you  are  tired  of  its  cares, 
sated  with  its  joys,  offended  by  its  transgressions.  You  sought 
riches  and  comfort  but  found  only  trouble  and  anxiety;  you 
sought  pleasure  and  luxuries  but  found  only  sadness  and  suf- 
ferings ;  you  sought  fame  and  fortune  but  found  only  humilia- 
tion and  adversity ;  you  sought  the  people's  favor  and  applause 
but  found  only  envy  and  slander.  Ah,  the  world  has  deceived 
you  in  all  that  it  promised,  still  you  hearken  to  its  promises, 
groping  after  its  illusions,  its  evasive  shadows.  You  have 
emptied  life's  bitter  chalice  and  yet  you  linger  over  its  dregs. 
The  world  has  turned  its  back  to  you,  but  you  still  cling  to 
its  delusions.     O,  pitiful!     Turn  your  face  to  God  and  you 

shall  find  the  peace  your  soul  is  wanting,  the  peace  which  all 
(408) 


"  THE    SWORD    SHALL    PIERCE    THY    HEART  "  4Q9 

the  world  cannot  give,  but  he  alone  who  conquered  the 
world. 

What  the  Church  proclaims  about  the  vanity  of  the  world 
is  revealed  to  us  by  the  world  itself,  not  merely  through  the 
vicissitudes  of  fortune,  but  through  the  perishable  nature  of 
the  things  around  us.  The  whole  creation  confirms  it  by 
innumerable  methods  of  revelation.  At  the  bounteous  table 
which  he  finds  prepared  for  him  in  this  world  man  sits  down 
like  the  guest  at  the  king's  table  over  whose  head  dangles  a 
drawn  sword  suspended  from  the  ceiling  by  a  brittle  thread. 
That  sword  is  pointed  out  to  him  by  all  nature,  ever-creating 
and  ever-destroying  nature. 

Step  out  into  the  field,  not  in  the  winter,  when  everything 
seems  dead ;  not  in  the  fall,  when  "  the  dying  night-lamp 
flickers;  "  but  in  the  height  of  summer  splendor.  How  many 
steps  can  you  take  before  some  faded  flower,  a  leaf  which  has 
fallen,  a  worm  that  has  been  trampled  upon,  reminds  you 
of  how  some  day  you  shall  wither,  fall,  and  be  laid  at  rest 
under  the  turf.  Yet  it  is  well  for  you  to  be  thus  taught  the 
process  of  your  own  transformation.  Turn  your  eyes  toward 
the  window  and  behold  how  night  is  drawing  nigh.  Yea, 
even  the  unchanging  sun  steps  do^vn  from  her  path  to  let  night 
remind  us  of  our  mortality.  ISTo  picture  in  the  book  of  nature 
is  more  clear,  more  expressive,  than  those  on  the  white  artd 
black  leaves  which  she  turns  every  morning  and  night. 

Each  day  in  life  is  not  merely  a  link  in  a  chain,  capable 
of  being  broken  loose ;  it  is  a  lifetime  by  itself.  Or  is  it  not 
a  new  life  you  begin  whenever  you  awake?  Once  asleep,  are 
you  really  conscious  of  life?  Sleep  is  more  than  a  shadow  of 
death;  it  is  a  part  thereof.  When  you  sleep  you  are  dead  to 
the  world  and  dead  to  your  own  self.  ^Nevertheless,  you  wake 
up  to  find  yourself  with  the  world  still  around  you;  you  live 


410  BISHOP    FRANS    MICHABL    FRANZEN 

again  and  will  think  of  nothing  else  than  life.  But  place 
your  hand  over  your  heart  and  reflect:  "  Should  that  beat- 
ing cease  the  next  moment?  " 

Why  do  you  turn  pale  at  the  thought?     You  fear  death! 

Then  you  ought  to  have  fears  every  day  and  every  hour, 
because  there  is  not  a  moment  in  your  life  when  you  can  feel 
assured  that  this  wonderful  structure  wherein  dwells  your 
soul,  now  like  a  cheerful  guest,  now  like  a  troubled  master, 
now  like  a  yearning  invalid,  now  like  a  convicted  prisoner, 
will  not  crumble  and  fall. 

But  you  do  not  think  of  this  constant  danger  to  life, 
l^ature  has  endowed  you  with  consciousness  of  life  and  faith 
in  its  durability,  and  while  she  places  your  hour-glass  before 
your  eyes  she  covers  its  upper  end.  You  can  see  and  measure 
the  sand  which  has  run  down  but  not  that  which  remains. 
AVho  fails  to  see  the  wisdom  in  this  order?  AVhat  good  could 
we  accomplish,  or  even  undertake  to  do,  should  we  all  think 
only  of  our  death?  What  pleasure  would  there  be  in  life, 
what  goal  could  w'e  reach  by  a  constant  dread  of  death?  Can 
it  be  that  nature,  or  rather  her  Creator,  is  rebelling  against 
himself  ?  Does  he  cause  heaven  and  earth  constantly  to  cry 
out  to  man,  "  Thou  shalt  die,"  while  he  himself  cries  in  a 
louder  voice:  "Live!  for  though  thou  diest,  yet  shalt  thou 
live  again!  " 

[Special  translation  by  Chas.  E.  Hurd.] 


JOSIAH    QUII^CY 


losiAH  QuiNCY,  LL.D.,  American  statesman,  orator,  and  historian,  was 
born  at  Boston,  Mass.,  Feb.  4,  1772,  and  died  at  Quincy,  Mass.,  July  1, 
1864,  the  only  son  of  the  patriotic  orator  who  is  usually  referred  to  as 
Josiah  Quincy,  Jr.  He  graduated  from  Harvard  in  1790,  and,  being  ad- 
mitted to  the  Bar  in  1793,  took  an  active  interest  in  politics,  as  his  father  had  done 
before  him.  An  oration  delivered  by  him,  July  4,  1798,  was  so  greatly  admired  that 
he  received  the  Federalist  nomination  for  Congress.  Though  defeated  on  the  occasion, 
he  became  in  1804  a  member  of  the  United  States  Senate,  where  he  was  known  as  an 
extreme  Federalist,  opposing  the  embargo  policy  and  the  second  war  with  England, 
and  hostile  to  the  admission  of  Louisiana  into  the  Union.  In  the  appended  speech  on 
this  subject,  he  made  the  first  announcement  of  the  doctrine  of  Secession.  Although 
opposed  to  the  war,  he  did  not  refuse  his  support  to  the  administration,  and  on  Jan. 
25,  1812,  made  a  memorable  speech  on  the  navy  which  was  greatly  admired.  He  de- 
clined reelection  that  year,  but  sat  during  1821-23  in  the  Massachusetts  legislature, 
and  as  mayor  of  Boston  (1823-28),  effected  a  number  of  important  municipal  reforms. 
His  son  and  great-grandson  successively  filled  the  same  civic  office  in  later  years. 
From  1829  to  1845,  he  was  president  of  Harvard,  and  after  his  retirement  from  that 
position  lived  in  Quincy,  Mass.,  devoted  to  literary  and  social  pursuits,  but  taking  a 
hearty  interest  in  public  affairs  until  his  death,  in  his  ninety-third  year.  His  writings 
embrace  a  "Memoir"  of  his  father  (1825);  "  History  of  Harvard  University"  (1840); 
"Municipal  History  of  Boston"  (1852);  "Memoir  of  John  Quincy  Adams"  (1858); 
and  "Speeches  in  Congress  and  Orations"  (1874). 


ON   THE   ADMISSION   OF   LOUISIANA 

DELIVERED  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES   HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES,  JANUARY 

14,    i8ii 


M 


R.  SPEAKER, —  I  address  you,  sir,  with  an  anxiety 
and  distress  of  mind  with  me  wholly  unprece- 
dented. The  friends  of  this  bill  seem  to  consider 
it  as  the  exercise  of  a  common  power;  as  an  ordinary  affair; 
a  mere  municipal  regulation,  which  they  expect  to  see  pass 
without  other  questions  than  those  concerning  details. 

But,  sir,  the  principle  of  this  bill  materially  affects  the 

(411)) 


412  JOSIAH    QUINCY 

liberties  and  rights  of  the  whole  people  of  the  United  States. 
To  me  it  appears  that  it  would  justify  a  revolution  in  this 
country ;  and  that,  in  no  great  length  of  time,  it  may  pro- 
duce it. 

When  I  see  the  zeal  and  perseverance  with  which  this  bill 
has  been  urged  along  its  parliamentary  path,  when  I  know 
the  local  interests  and  associated  projects  which  combine 
to  promote  its  success,  all  opposition  to  it  seems  manifestly 
unavailing.  I  am  almost  tempted  to  leave,  without  a  strug- 
gle, my  country  to  its  fate. 

But,  sir,  w'hile  there  is  life  there  is  hope.  So  long  as  the 
fatal  shaft  has  not  yet  sped,  if  heaven  so  will,  the  bow  may 
be  broken  and  the  vigor  of  the  mischief-meditating  arm 
withered.  If  there  be  a  man  in  this  House  or  nation  who 
cherishes  the  constitution,  under  which  we  are  assembled,  as 
the  chief  stay  of  his  hope,  as  the  light  which  is  destined  to 
gladden  his  own  day,  and  to  soften  even  the  gloom  of  the 
grave  by  the  prospect  it  sheds  over  his  children,  I  fall  not 
behind  him  in  such  sentiments.  I  will  yield  to  no  man  in 
attachment  to  this  constitution,  in  veneration  for  the  sages 
who  laid  its  foundations,  in  devotion  to  those  principles  which 
form  its  cement  and  constitute  its  proportions. 

What  then  nmst  be  my  feelings;  what  ought  to  be  the 
feelings  of  a  man  cherishing  such  sentiments  when  he  sees 
an  act  contemplated  which  lays  ruin  at  the  root  of  all  these 
hopes  ?  —  when  he  sees  a  principle  of  action  about  to  be 
usurped,  before  the  operation  of  which  the  bands  of  this 
constitution  are  no  more  than  flax  before  the  fire  or  stubble 
before  the  whirlwind.  When  this  bill  passes  such  an  act  is 
done  and  such  a  principle  usurped. 

Mr.  Speaker,  there  is  a  great  rule  of  human  conduct 
which  he  who  honestly  observes   cannot  err  widely  from  the 


ox    THE    ADMISSION    OF    LOUISIANA  4I3 

path  of  his  sought  duty.  It  is,  to  be  very  scrupulous  con- 
cerning the  principles  you  select  as  the  test  of  your  rights 
and  obligations;  to  be  very  faithful  in  noticing  the  result  of 
their  application;  and  to  be  very  fearless  in  tracing  and 
exposing  their  immediate  effects  and  distant  consequences. 
Under  the  sanction  of  this  rule  of  conduct,  I  am  compelled  to 
declare  it  as  my  deliberate  opinion  that  if  this  bill  passes, 
the  bonds  of  this  Union  are  virtually  dissolved;  that  the 
States  which  compose  it  are  free  from  their  moral  obliga- 
tions, and  that  as  it  will  be  the  right  of  all,  so  it  will  be  the 
duty  of  some,  to  prepare  definitely  for  a  separation,  ami- 
cably if  they  can,  violently  if  they  must. 

[Mr.  Quincy  was  here  called  to  order  by  Mr.  Poindexter, 
delegate  from  the  Mississippi  Territory,  for  the  words  in 
italics.  After  it  was  decided,  upon  an  appeal  to  the  House, 
that  Mr.  Quincy  was  in  order,  he  proceeded:] 

I  rejoice,  Mr.  Speaker,  at  the  result  of  this  appeal.  Not 
from  any  personal  consideration,  but  from  the  respect  paid 
to  the  essential  rights  of  the  people  in  one  of  their  represen- 
tatives. When  I  spoke  of  the  separation  of  the  States  as 
resulting  from  the  violation  of  the  constitution  contem- 
plated in  this  bill,  I  spoke  of  it  as  a  necessity  deeply  to  be 
deprecated,  but  as  resulting  from  causes  so  certain  and 
obvious  as  to  be  absolutely  inevitable  when  the  effect  of  the 
principle  is  practically  experienced.  It  is  to  preserve,  to 
guard  the  constitution  of  my  country  that  I  denounce  this 
attempt.  I  would  rouse  the  attention  of  gentlemen  from 
the  apathy  with  which  they  seem  beset. 

These  observations  are  not  made  in  a  corner;  there  is  no 
low  intrigue;  no  secret  machination.  I  am  on  the  people's 
own  ground;  to  them  I  appeal   concerning  their  own  rights. 


414  JOSIAH    QUINCY 

their  own  liberties,  their  own  intent,  in  adopting  this  con- 
stitution. The  Toicc  I  have  uttered,  at  which  gentlemen 
startle  with  such  agitation,  is  no  unfriendly  voice.  I  intended 
it  as  a  voice  of  warning.  By  this  people,  and  by  the  event, 
if  this  bill  passes,  I  am  willing  to  be  judged  whether  it  be  not 
a  voice  of  wisdom. 

The  bill  wliich  is  now  proposed  to  be  passed  has  this 
assumed  principle  for  its  basis,  that  the  three  branches  of 
this  national  government,  without  recurrence  to  conventions 
of  the  people  in  the  States  or  to  the  legislatures  of  the  States, 
are  authorized  to  admit  new  partners  to  a  share  of  the  poli- 
tical power  in  countries  out  of  the  original  limits  of  the 
United  States. 

Now,  this  assumed  principle  I  maintain  to  be  altogether 
without  any  sanction  in  the  constitution.  I  declare  it  to  be 
a  manifest  and  atrocious  usurpation  of  power ;  of  a  nature 
dissolving,  according  to  undeniable  principles  of  moral  law, 
the  obligations  of  our  national  compact,  and  leading  to  all  the 
awful  consequences  which  flow  from  such  a  state  of  things. 
Concerning  this  assumed  principle,  which  is  the  basis  of  this 
bill,  this  is  the  general  position  on  which  I  rest  my  argument, 
that,  if  the  authority  now  proposed  to  be  exercised  be  dele- 
gated to  the  three  branches  of  the  government  by  virtue 
of  the  constitution,  it  results  either  from  its  general  nature 
or  from  its  particular  provisions.  I  shall  consider  distinctly 
both  these  sources  in  relation  to  this  pretended  power. 

Touching  the  general  nature  of  the  instrument  called  the 
constitution  of  the  United  States,  there  is  no  obscurity;  it 
has  no  fabled  descent,  like  the  palladium  of  ancient  Troy, 
from  the  heavens.  Its  origin  is  not  confused  by  the  mists  of 
time,  or  hidden  by  the  darkness  of  passed,  unexplored  ages; 
it  is  the  fabric  of  our  day.     Some  now  living  had  a  share  in 


ON    THE    ADMISSTON    OF    LOUISIAXA  4^5 


D 


its  construction;  all  of  lis  stood  bj  and  saw  tlie  rising  of  the 
edifice.  There  can  be  no  doubt  about  its  nature.  It  is  a 
political  compact.  By  whom?  And  about  what?  The  pre- 
amble to  the  instrument  will  answer  these  questions. 

"We,  the  people  of  the  United  States,  in  order  to  form  a 
more  perfect  Union,  establish  justice,  ensure  domestic  tran- 
quillity, provide  for  the  common  defence,  promote  the  gen- 
eral welfare,  and  secure  the  blessings  of  liberty  to  ourselves 
and  our  posterity,  do  ordain  and  establish  this  Constitution 
for  the  United  States  of  America." 

It  is,  we,  the  people  of  the  United  States,  for  ourselves 
and  our  posterity;  not  for  the  people  of  Louisiana,  nor  for 
the  people  of  ISTew  Orleans  or  of  Canada.  Xone  of  these 
enter  into  the  scope  of  the  instrument ;  it  embraces  only  "  the 
United  States  of  America." 

Who  these  are,  it  may  seem  strange  in  this  place  to 
inquire.  But  truly,  sir,  our  imaginations  have  of  late  been 
so  accustomed  to  wander  after  new  settlements  to  the  very 
ends  of  the  earth,  that  it  will  not  be  time  ill-spent  to  in- 
quire what  this  phrase  means  and  what  it  includes.  These 
are  not  terms  adopted  at  hazard;  they  have  reference  to  a 
state  of  things  existing  anterior  to  the  constitution.  When 
the  people  of  the  present  United  States  began  to  contemplate 
a  severance  from  their  parent  State,  it  was  a  long  time  before 
they  fixed  definitively  the  name  by  which  they  would  be  desig- 
nated. In  1774  they  called  themselves  "  the  Colonies  and 
Provinces  of  Xorth  America  "  ;  in  1775,  "  the  Kepresenta- 
tives  of  the  United  Colonies  of  N^orth  America  " ;  in  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  "  the  Representatives  of  the 
United  States  of  America  " ;  and,  finally,  in  the  Articles  of 
Confederation,  the  style  of  the  confederacy  is  declared  to  be 
"  the  United  States  of  America." 


416  JOSIAH    QUINCY 

It  was  with  reference  to  the  old  articles  of  confederation, 
and  to  preserve  the  identity  and  established  individuality 
of  their  character,  that  the  Dreamble  to  this  constitution, 
not  content  simply  with  declaring  that  it  is  "  We,  the  people 
of  the  United  States,"  who  enter  into  this  compact,  adds  that 
it  is  for  "  the  United  States  of  America."  Concerning  the 
territory  contemplated  by  the  people  of  the  United  States  in 
these  general  terms,  there  can  be  no  dispute;  it  is  settled  by 
the  treaty  of  peace,  and  included  within  the  Atlantic  Ocean, 
the  St.  Croix,  the  lakes;  and  more  precisely,  so  far  as  relates 
to  the  frontier,  having  relation  to  the  present  argument, 
within — 

— "  a  line  to  be  drawn  through  the  middle  of  the  river 
Mississippi  until  it  intersect  the  northernmost  part  of  the 
thirty-first  degree  of  north  latitude,  thence  within  a  line 
drawn  due  east  on  this  degree  of  latitude  to  the  river  Apala- 
chicola,  thence  along  the  middle  of  this  river  to  its  junction 
with  the  Flint  River,  thence  straight  to  the  head  of  the  St. 
Mary's  River,  and  thence  down  the  St.  Mary's  to  the  Atlantic 
Ocean." 

I  have  been  thus  particular  to  draw  the  minds  of  gentle- 
men distinctly  to  the  meaning  of  the  terms  used  in  the  pre- 
amble ;  to  the  extent  which  "  the  United  States  "  then 
included,  and  to  the  fact  that  neither  ISTew  Orleans  nor 
Louisiana  was  within  the  comprehension  of  the  terms  of  this 
instrument.  It  is  sufficient  for  the  present  branch  of  my 
argument  to  say  that  there  is  nothing  in  the  general  nature 
of  this  compact  from  whicli  the  power  contemplated  to  be 
exercised  in  this  bill    results. 

On  the  contrary,  as  the  introduction  of  a  new  associate 
In  political  power  implies  necessarily  a  new  division  of 
power  and  consequent  diiiiiinition  of  the  relative  proportion 


ON    THE    ADMISSION    OF    LOUISIANA  4I7 

of  the  former  proprietors  of  it,  there  can  certainly  be 
nothing  more  obvious  than  that  from  the  general  nature 
of  the  instrument  no  power  can  result  to  diminish  and  give 
away  to  strangers  any  proportion  of  the  rights  of  the  original 
partners.  If  such  a  power  exist,  it  must  be  found,  then, 
in  the  particular  provisions  in  the  constitution.  The  ques- 
tion now  arising  is,  in  which  of  these  provisions  is  given  the 
power  to  admit  new  States  to  be  created  in  territories  beyond 
the  limits  of  the  old  United  States.  If  it  exist  anvwhere, 
it  is  either  in  the  third  section  of  the  fourth  article  of  the 
constitution  or  in  the  treaty-making  power.  If  it  result 
from  neither  of  these  it  is  not  pretended  to  be  found  any- 
where else. 

That  part  of  the  third  section  of  the  fourth  article  on 
which  the  advocates  of  this  bill  rely  is  the  following: 

"  N'ew  States  may  be  admitted  by  the  Congress  into  this 
Union;  but  no  new  State  shall  be  formed  or  erected  within 
the  jurisdiction  of  any  other  State,  nor  any  State  be  formed 
by  the  junction  of  two  or  more  States,  or  parts  of  States,  with- 
out the  consent  of  the  legislatures  of  the  States  concerned, 
as  well  as  of  the  Congress." 

I  know,  Mr.  Speaker,  that  the  first  clause  of  this  paragraph 
has  been  read  with  all  the  superciliousness  of  a  grammarian's 
triumph  — *'  ISTew  States  may  be  admitted  by  the  Congress 
into  this  Union " —  accompanied  with  this  most  conse- 
quential inquiry:  "Is  not  this  a  new  State  to  be  admitted? 
And  is  not  here  an  express  authority? " 

I  have  no  doubt  this  is  a  full  and  satisfactory  argument  to 
everyone  who  is  content  with  the  mere  colors  and  superficies 
of  things.  And,  if  we  were  now  at  the  bar  of  some  stall-fed 
justice,  the  inquiry  would  ensure  victory  to  the  maker  of  it, 
to  the  manifest  delight  of  the  constables  and  suitors  of  his 

Vol.  4—27 


418  JOSIAH    QUINCY 

court.  But,  sir,  wc  are  now  before  the  tribunal  of  the  whole 
American  people;  reasoning  concerning  their  liberties,  their 
rights,  their  constitution.  These  are  not  to  be  made  the 
victims  of  the  inevitable  obscurity  of  general  terms,  nor  the 
sport  of  verbal  criticism. 

The  question  is  concerning  the  intent  of  the  American 
people,  the  proprietors  of  the  old  United  States,  when  they 
agreed  to  this  article.  Dictionaries  and  spelling-books  are 
here  of  no  authority,  Neither  Johnson,  nor  Walker,  nor 
AVebster,  nor  Dilworth,  has  any  voice  in  this  matter.  Sir, 
the  question  concerns  the  proportion  of  power  reserved  by 
this  constitution  to  every  State  in  this  Union.  Have  the 
three  branches  of  this  government  a  right,  at  will,  to  weaken 
and  outweigh  the  influence,  respectively,  secured  to  each 
State  in  this  compact,  by  introducing,  at  pleasure,  new 
partners,  situate  beyond  the  old  limits  of  the  United 
States  ? 

The  question  has  not  relation  merely  to  jSTew  Orleans. 
The  great  objection  is  to  the  principle  of  the  bill.  If  this 
principle  be  admitted,  the  whole  space  of  Louisiana,  greater, 
it  is  said,  than  the  entire  extent  of  the  old  United  States,  will 
be  a  mighty  theatre  in  which  this  government  assumes  the 
right  of  exercising  this  unparalleled  power.  And  it  will  be ; 
there  is  no  concealment,  it  is  intended  to  be  exercised. 
!N^or  will  it  stop  until  the  very  name  and  nature  of  the 
old  partners  be  overwhelmed  by  new-comers  into  the  con- 
federacy. 

Sir,  the  question  goes  to  the  very  root  of  the  power  and 
influence  of  the  present  members  of  this  Union.  The  real 
intent  of  this  article  is  therefore  an  inquiry  of  most  serious 
import,  and  is  to  be  settled  only  by  a  recurrence  to  the 
known  history  and  known  relations  of  this  people  and  their 


ON    THE    ADMISSION    OF    LOUISIANA  4I9 

constitiition.  These,  I  maintain,  support  this  position,  that 
the  terms  "  new  States  "  in  this  article  do  intend  new  political 
sovereignties,  to  be  fonned  within  the  original  limits  of  the 
United  States,  and  do  not  intend  new  political  sovereignties 
with  territorial  annexations,  to  b6  created  without  the  original 
limits  of  the  United  States.  I  undertake  to  support  both 
branches  of  this  position  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  people  of 
these  United  States. 

Suppose,  in  private  life,  thirteen  form  a  partnership  and 
ten  of  them  undertake  to  admit  a  new  partner  without  the 
concurrence  of  the  other  three,  would  it  not  be  at  their 
option  to  abandon  the  partnership  after  so  palpable  an 
infringement  of  their  rights? 

How  much  more,  in  the  political  partnership,  where  the 
admission  of  new  associates  without  previous  authority  is 
so  pregnant  with  obvious  dangers  and  evils!  Again,  it  is 
settled  as  a  principle  of  morality,  among  writers  on  public 
law,  that  no  person  can  be  obliged  beyond  his  intent  at  the 
time  of  the  contract.  Now,  who  believes,  who  dare  assert, 
that  it  was  the  intention  of  the  people,  when  they  adopted 
this  constitution,  to  assign  eventually  to  New  Orleans  and 
Louisiana  a  portion  of  their  political  power,  and  to  invest 
all  the  people  those  extensive  regions  might  hereafter  con- 
tain with  an  authority  over  themselves  and  their  descen- 
dants ? 

When  you  throw  the  weight  of  Louisiana  into  the  scale 
you  destroy  the  political  equipoise  contemplated  at  the  time 
of  forming  the  contract.  Can  any  man  venture  to  affirm 
that  the  people  did  intend  such  a  comprehension  as  you  now, 
by  construction,  give  it?  Or  can  it  be  concealed  that  beyond 
its  fair  and  acknowledged  intent  such  a  compact  has  no 
moral  force?     If  gentlemen  are  so  alarmed  at  the  bare  men- 


420  JOSIAH    QUINCT 

tion  of  the  consequences,  let  them  abandon  a  measure  which 
sooner  or  later   will  produce  them. 

How  long  before  the  seeds  of  discontent  will  ripen  no  man 
can  foretell.  But  it  is  the  part  of  wisdom  not  to  multiply 
or  scatter  them.  Do  you  suppose  the  people  of  the  northern 
and  Atlantic  States  will  or  ought  to  look  on  with  patience 
and  see  representatives  and  senators  from  the  Red  River 
and  Missouri  pouring  themselves  upon  this  and  the  other 
floor,  managing  the  concerns  of  a  seaboard  fifteen  hundred 
miles  at  least  from  their  residence,  and  having  a  preponder- 
ancy  in  councils  into  which,  constitutionally,  they  could 
never  have  been  admitted?  I  have  no  hesitation  upon  this 
point.  They  neither  will  see  it,  nor  ought  to  see  it,  with 
content.  It  is  the  part  of  a  wise  man  to  foresee  danger  and 
to  hide  himself. 

This  great  usurpation  which  creeps  into  this  House  under 
the  plausible  appearance  of  giving  content  to  that  important 
point,  New  Orleans,  starts  up  a  gigantic  power  to  control 
the  nation.  Upon  the  actual  condition  of  things  there  is, 
there  can  be,  no  need  of  concealment.  It  is  apparent  to  the 
blindest  vision.  By  the  course  of  nature  and  conformable 
to  the  acknowledged  principles  of  the  constitution  the 
sceptre  of  power  in  this  country  is  passing  towards  the  north- 
west. Sir,  there  is  to  this  no  objection.  The  right  belongs 
to  that  quarter  of  the  country.  Enjoy  it;  it  is  yours.  Use 
the  powers  granted  as  you  please.  But  take  care  in  your 
haste  after  effectual  dominion  not  to  overload  the  scale  by 
heaping  it  with  these  new  acquisitions.  Grasp  not  too 
eagerly  at  your  purpose.  In  your  speed  after  uncontrolled 
sway,  trample  not  down  this  constitution.  Already  the  old 
States  sink  in  the  estimation  of  members  when  brought  into 
comparison  with  these  new  countries. 


ON    THE    ADMISSION    OF    LOUISIANA  421 

We  have  been  told  that  "  New  Orleans  was  the  most 
important  point  in  the  Union."  A  place  out  of  the  Union, 
the  most  important  place  within  it!  We  have  been  asked, 
"  What  are  some  of  the  small  States  when  compared  with  the 
Mississippi  Territory  ?  "  The  gentleman  from  that  Territory 
[Mr.  Poindexter]  spoke  the  other  day  of  the  Mississippi  as 
"  of  a  high  road  between  " — good  heavens!  between  what? 
Mr.  Speaker  —  why,  "the  eastern  and  western  States!  "  So 
that  all  the  northwestern  Territories,  all  the  countries  once 
the  extreme  western  boundary  of  our  Union,  are  hereafter 
to  be  denominated  eastern  States! 

[Mr,  Poindexter  explained.  He  said  that  he  had  not 
said  that  the  Mississippi  was  to  be  the  boundary  between  the 
eastern  and  western  States,  He  had  merely  thrown  out  a 
hint  that  in  erecting  new  States  it  might  be  a  good  high 
road  between  the  States  on  its  waters.  His  idea  had  not 
extended  bevond  the  new  States  on  the  waters  of  the 
Mississippi.] 

I  make  no  great  point  of  this  matter.  The  gentleman 
will  find  in  the  "  ISTational  Intelligencer  "  the  terms  to  which 
I  refer.  There  will  be  seen,  I  presume,  what  he  has  said  and 
what  he  has  not  said.  The  argument  is  not  affected  by  the 
explanation.  Xew  States  are  intended  to  be  formed  beyond 
the  Mississippi.  There  is  no  limit  to  men's  imaginations  on 
this  subject  short  of  California  and  Columbia  River. 

When  I  said  that  the  bill  would  justify  a  revolution  and 
would  produce  it,  I  spoke  of  its  principle  and  its  practical 
consequences.  To  this  principle  and  those  consequences  I 
would  call  the  attention  of  this  House  and  nation.  If  it  be 
about  to  introduce  a  condition  of  things  absolutely  insup- 
portable, it  becomes  wise  and  honest  men  to  anticipate  the 
evil    and  to  warn  and  prepare  the  people  against  the  event. 


422  J08IAH    QUINCY 

I  have  no  hesitation  on  the  subject.  The  extension  of  this 
principle  to  the  States  contemplated  beyond  the  Mississippi 
cannot,  will  not,  and  ought  not  to  be  borne.  And  the  sooner 
the  people  contemplate  the  unavoidable  result  the  better,  the 
more  likely  that  convulsions  may  be  prevented,  the  more 
hope  that  the  e\Tils  may  be  palliated  or  removed. 

Mr.  Speaker,  what  is  this  liberty  of  which  so  much  is 
said  ?  Is  it  to  walk  about  this  earth,  to  breathe  this  air,  and 
to  partake  the  common  blessings  of  God's  providence?  The 
beasts  of  the  field  and  the  birds  of  the  air  unite  with  us  in 
such  privileges  as  these.  But  man  boasts  a  purer  and  more 
ethereal  temperature.  His  mind  grasps  in  its  view  the  past 
and  future  as  well  as  the  present.  We  live  not  for  ourselves 
alone. 

That  which  we  call  liberty  is  that  principle  on  which  the 
essential  security  of  our  political  condition  depends.  It 
results  from  the  limitations  of  our  political  system  pre- 
scribed in  the  constitution.  These  limitations,  so  long  as 
they  are  faithfully  observed,  maintain  order,  peace,  and 
safety.  When  they  are  violated  in  essential  particulars  all 
the  concurrent  spheres  of  authority  rush  against  each  otherj 
and  disorder,  derangement,  and  convulsion  are,  sooner  or 
later,  the  necessary  consequences. 

With  respect  to  this  love  of  our  Union,  concerning  which 
so  much  sensibility  is  expressed,  I  have  no  fear  about  analyz- 
ing its  nature.  There  is  in  it  nothing  of  mystery.  It 
depends  upon  the  qualities  of  that  Union,  and  it  results  from 
its  effects  upon  our  and  our  country's  happiness.  It  is 
valued  for  ''  that  sober  certainty  of  waking  bliss  "  which  it 
enables  us  to  realize.  It  grows  out  of  the  affections,  and  has 
not,  and  cannot  be  made  to  have,  anything  universal  in  its 
nature.     Sir,  I  confess  it,  the  first  public  love  of  my  heart  is 


ON    THE    ADMISSION    OF    LOUISIANA  423 

the  Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts.     There  is  my  fireside ; 
there  are  the  tombs  of  my  ancestors  — 

"  Low  lies  that  land,  yet  blest  with  fruitful  stores, 
Strong  are  her  sons,  though  rocky  are  her  shores; 
And  none,  ah!  none,  so  lovely  to  my  sight, 
Of  all  the  lands,  which  heaven  o'erspreads  with  light." 

The  love  of  this  Union  grows  out  of  this  attachment  to  my 
native  soil  and  is  rooted  in  it.  I  cherish  it  because  it  affords 
the  best  external  hope  of  her  peace,  her  prosperity,  her  inde- 
pendence. I  oppose  this  bill  from  no  animosity  to  the  people 
of  New  Orleans,  but  from  the  deep  conviction  that  it  contains 
a  principle  incompatible  with  the  liberties  and  safety  of  my 
country.  I  have  no  concealment  of  my  opinion.  The  bill, 
if  it  passes,  is  a  death-blow  to  the  constitution.  It  may  after- 
wards linger,  but,  lingering,  its  fate  will  at  no  very  distant 
period  be  consummated. 


SOim  RANDOLPH 


JOHN  Randolph,  "  of  Roanoke,**  American  statesman,  nephew  of  the 
patriot,  Peyton  Randolph,  was  born  at  Cawsons,  Chesterfield  Co.,  Va.- 
.lime  2,  1773,  and  died  at  Philadelphia,  June  2-1,  1833.  Receiving  his 
preliminary  education  at  the  grammar  school  attached  to  William  and 
Mary  College,  he  afterward  studied  at  Princeton  and  Columbia  Colleges,  and  then 
read  law  at  Philadelphia.  In  1799,  he  was  elected  to  Congress  as  Democratic  represen- 
tative from  Virginia,  and  with  two  brief  intervals,  he  sat  in  the  House  for  close  upon 
thirty  years.  Early  in  his  congressional  career,  he  made  a  powerful  speech  in  answer 
to  Patrick  Henry,  who  had  opposed  his  election.  He  afterward  became  an  ardent 
Republican  and  follower  of  Jefferson,  yet  opposed  the  War  of  1812  with  England,  took 
adverse  ground  in  regard  to  protective  duties,  favored  Monroe  as  President,  was  an 
opponent  of  the  Slave  trade,  and  vehemently  denounced  the  Missouri  Compromise.  In 
1825-27  he  sat  in  the  Senate,  had  a  duel  with  Henry  Clay  in  1826,  and  in  1830  was 
United  States  Minister  to  Russia.  Returning  to  the  United  States  he  was  once  more 
elected  to  Congress,  but  before  taking  his  seat  he  died  of  consumption,  emancipating 
his  many  slaves  by  will  before  his  death  and  providing  for  their  after-maintenance. 
Randolph  was  a  sufferer  from  nervous  eccentricity,  which  extended  even  to  matters  of 
dress;  and  he  had  a  biting,  sarcastic  tongue,  modified  at  times,  however,  by  amusing 
sallies  of  wit. 

ON   FOREIGN    IMPORTATIONS 

[Delivered  March  5,  18J6,  on  a  motion  for  the  non-importation  of  British  merchan- 
dise, offered  by  Mr.  (Iregg  in  the  House  of  Representatives  during  the  dispute  between 
Great  Britain  and  the  United  States.] 

1AM  extremely  afraid,  sir,  that  so  far  as  it  may  depend 
on  my  acquaintance  with  details  connected  with  the  sub- 
ject I  have  very  little  right  to  address  you :  for  in  truth 
I  have  not  yet  seen  the  documents  from  the  treasury,  which 
were  called  for  some  time  ago,  to  direct  the  judgmient  of  this 
House  in  the  decision  of  the  question  now  before  you;  and 
indeed,  after  what  I  have  this  day  heard,  I  no  longer  require 
that  document,  or  any  other  document;  indeed,  I  do  not  know 
that  I  ever  should  have  required  it,  to  vote  on  the  resolution 
of  the  gentleman  from  Pennsylvania.     If  I  had  entertained 

any  doubts,  they  would  have  been  removed  by  the  style  in 
(424^ 


ON    FOREIGN    IMPORTATIONS  425 

which  the  friends  of  the  resalution  have  this  morning  dis- 
cussed it. 

I  am  perfectly  aware  that  upon  entering  on  this  subject 
we  go  into  it  manacled,  handcuffed,  and  tongue-tied.  Gentle- 
men know  that  our  lips  are  sealed  in  subjects  of  momentous 
foreign  relations  which  are  indissolubly  linked  with  the  pres- 
ent question,  and  which  would  serve  to  throw  a  great  light  on 
it  in  every  respect  relevant  to  it.  I  will,  however,  endeavor 
to  hobble  over  the  subject  as  well  as  my  fettered  limbs  and 
palsied  tongue  will  enable  me  to  do  it. 

I  am  not  surprised  to  hear  this  resolution  discussed  by  its 
friends  as  a  war  measure.  They  say,  it  is  true,  that  it  is  not 
a  war  measure;  but  they  defend  it  on  principles  which  would 
justify  none  but  war  measures,  and  seem  pleased  with  the  idea 
that  it  may  prove  the  forerunner  of  war.  If  war  is  neces- 
sary, if  we  have  reached  this  point,  let  us  have  war. 

But  while  I  have  life  I  will  never  consent  to  these  incipient 
war  measures  which  in  their  commencement  breathe  nothing 
but  peace,  though  they  plunge  us  at  last  into  war. 

It  has  been  well  observed  by  the  gentleman  from  Pennsyl- 
vania behind  me  [Mr.  J.  Clay],  that  the  situation  of  this 
nation  in  1793  was  in  every  respect  different  from  that  in 
which  it  finds  itself  in  1806.  Let  me  ask,  too,  if  the  situation 
of  England  is  not  since  materially  changed?  Gentlemen, 
who,  it  would  appear  from  their  language,  have  not  got  beyond 
the  horn-book  of  politics,  talk  of  our  ability  to  cope  with  the 
British  navy   and  tell  us  of  the  war  of  our  Revolution. 

Wliat  was  the  situation  of  Great  Britain  then?  She  was 
then  contending  for  the  empire  of  the  British  Channel,  barely 
able  to  maintain  a  doubtful  equality  with  her  enemies,  over 
whom  she  never  gained  the  superiority  until  Rodney's  victory 
of  the  12th  of  April. 


426  JOHN    RANDOLPH 

"WHiat  is  her  present  situation?  The  combined  fleets  of 
France,  Spain,  and  Holland  arc  dissipated ;  tliey  no  loiiijer 
exist.  I  am  not  surprised  to  hear  men  advocate  these  wild 
opinions,  to  see  them  goaded  on  by  a  spirit  of  mercantile  ava- 
rice, straining  their  feeble  strength  to  excite  the  nation  to  "war, 
when  they  have  reached  this  stage  of  infatuation,  that  we 
are  an  over-match  for  Great  Britain  on  the  ocean.  It  is  mere 
waste  of  time  to  reason  with  such  persons.  They  do  not 
deser\'e  anything  like  serious  refutation.  The  proper  argu- 
ments for  such  statesmen  are  a  strait  waistcoat,  a  dark  room, 
water-gTuel,  and  depletion. 

It  has  always  appeared  to  me  that  there  are  three  points 
to  be  considered,  and  maturely  considered,  before  we  can  be 
prepared  to  vote  for  the  resolution  of  the  gentleman  from 
Pennsylvania.  First,  our  ability  to  contend  with  Great 
Britain  for  the  question  in  dispute ;  second,  the  policy  of 
suqh  a  contest ;  and  third,  in  case  both  these  shall  be  settled 
affirmatively,  the  manner  in  which  we  can  with  the  greatest 
effect  react  upon  and  annoy  our  adversary. 

NoAv  the  gentleman  from  Massachusetts  [Mr.  CrowTiin- 
shield]  has  settled  at  a  single  sweep,  to  use  one  of  his  favorite 
expressions,  not  only  that  we  are  capable  of  contending  with 
Great  Britain  on  the  ocean,  but  that  we  are  actually  her 
superior.  Whence  does  the  gentleman  deduce  this  inference  ? 
Because  truly  at  that  time  w^hen  Great  Britain  was  not  mis- 
tress of  the  ocean,  when  a  jSI^orth  was  her  prime  minister  and 
a  Sandwich  the  first  lord  of  her  admiralty;  when  she  was  gov- 
erned by  a  counting-house  administration,  privateers  of  this 
country  trespassed  on  her  commerce.  So  too  did  the  cruisers 
of  Dunkirk.  At  that  day  Sufferin  held  the  mastery  of  the 
Indian  seas. 

But  what  is  the  case  now?     Do  gentlemen  remember  the 


ON    FOREIGN    IMPORTATIONS  427 

capture  of  Cornwallis  on  land  because  De  Grasse  maintained 
the  dominion  of  the  ocean?  To  my  mind  no  position  is  more 
clear  than  that  if  we  go  to  war  with  Great  Britain,  Charleston 
and  Boston,  the  Chesapeake  and  the  Hudson,  will  be  invested 
by  British  squadrons.  Will  you  call  on  the  Count  de  Grasse 
to  relieve  them?  or  shall  we  apply  to  Admiral  Gravina,  or 
Admiral  Villeneuve,  to  raise  the  blockade? 

But  you  have  not  only  a  prospect  of  gathering  glory,  and, 
what  seems  to  the  gentleman  from  Massachusetts  much  dearer, 
t,o  profit  by  privateering,  but  you  will  be  able  to  make  a  con- 
quest of  Canada  and  Nova  Scotia.  Indeed?  Then,  sir,  we 
shall  catch  a  Tartar.  I  confess,  however,  I  have  no  desire  to 
see  the  senators  and  the  representatives  of  the  Canadian 
French,  or  of  the  Tories  and  refugees  of  jSTova  Scotia,  sitting 
on  this  floor,  or  that  of  the  other  House  —  to  see  them  becom- 
ing members  of  the  Union  and  participating  equally  in  our 
political  rights.  And  on  what  other  principle  would  the  gen- 
tleman from  Massachusetts  be  for  incorporating  those  prov- 
inces with  us?  Or  on  what  other  principle  could  it  be  done 
under  the  constitution?  If  the  gentleman  has  no  other 
bounty  to  offer  us  for  going  to  war  than  the  incoi-poration  of 
Canada  and  Nova  Scotia  .with  the  United  States,  I  am  for 
remaining  at  peace. 

What  is  the  question  in  dispute  ?  The  carrying  trade. 
What  part  of  it?  The  fair,  the  honest,  and  the  useful  trade 
that  is  engaged  in  carrying  our  o\\ti  production  to  foreigTi 
markets  and  bringing  back  their  productions  in  exchange? 
No,  sir;  it  is  that  carrying  trade  which  covers  enemy's  prop- 
erty and  carries  the  coffee,  the  sugar,  and  other  West  India 
products  to  the  mother  countrv'. 

No,  sir;  if  this  great  agricultural  nation  is  to  be  governed 
by  Salem  and  Boston,  New  York  and  Philadelphia,  and  Bal- 


428  JOHN    RANDOLPH 

timore  and  Norfolk  and  Charleston,  let  gentlemen  come  out 
and  say  so;  and  let  a  committee  of  public  safety  be  appointed 
from  those  towns  to  carry  on  the  government. 

I,  for  one,  will  not  mortgage  my  property  and  my  liberty 
to  carry  on  this  trade.  The  nation  said  so  seven  years  ago;  I 
said  so  then,  and  I  say  so  now.  It  is  not  for  the  honest  carry- 
ing trade  of  America,  but  for  this  mushroom,  this  fungus  of 
war,  for  a  trade  which,  as  soon  as  the  nations  of  Europe  are 
at  peace,  will  no  longer  exist;  it  is  for  this  that  the  spirit  of 
avaricious  traffic  would  plunge  us  into  war. 

I  am  forcibly  struck  on  this  occasion  by  the  recollection  of 
a  remark  made  by  one  of  the  ablest,  if  not  the  honestest,  min- 
isters that  England  ever  produced.  I  mean  Sir  Robert  Wal- 
pole,  who  said  that  the  country  gentlemen,  poor,  meek  souls! 
came  up  every  year  to  bo  sheared;  that  they  laid  mute  and 
patient  whilst  their  fleeces  were  taking  off;  but  that  if  he 
touched  a  single  bristle  of  the  commercial  interest,  the  whole 
stye  was  in  an  uproar.  It  was  indeed  shearing  the  hog  — 
"  great  cry   and  little  wool." 

But  we  are  asked,  are  we  willing  to  bend  the  neck  to  Eng- 
land; to  submit  to  her  outrages?  Xo,  sir;  I  answer  that  it 
will  be  time  enough  for  us  to  tell  gentlemen  what  we  will  do 
to  vindicate  the  violation  of  our  flag  on  the  ocean  \vhen  they 
shall  have  told  us  what  they  have  done  in  resentment  of  the 
violationof  the  actual  territory  of  the  United  States  by  Spain, 
the  true  territory  of  the  United  States,  not  your  new-fangled 
country  over  the  Mississippi,  but  the  good  old  United  States  — 
part  of  Georgia,  of  the  old  thirteen  States,  where  citizens  have 
been  taken,  not  from  our  ships,  but  from  our  actual  tcn-itory. 

When  gentlemen  have  taken  the  padlock  from  our  mouths 
I  shall  be  ready  to  tell  them  what  I  will  do  relative  to  our 
dispute  with  Britain  on  the  law  of  nations,  on  contraband,  and 
such  stuff. 


ON    FOREIGN    IMPORTATIONS  429 

I  have  another  objection  to  this  course  of  proceeding. — 
Great  Britain,  wheij  she  sees  it,  will  say  the  American  people 
have  great  cause  of  dissatisfaction  with  Spain.  She  will  see 
by  the  documents  furnished  by  the  President  that  Spain  has 
outraged  our  territory,  pirated  upon  our  commerce,  and 
imprisoned  our  citizens;  and  she  will  inquire  what  we  have 
done.  It  is  true,  she  will  receive  no  answer;  but  she  must 
know  what  we  have  not  done.  She  will  see  that  we  have  not 
repelled  these  outrages,  nor  made  any  addition  to  our  army 
and  navy,  nor  even  classed  the  militia.  jSTo,  sir ;  not  one  of  our 
militia  generals  in  politics  has  marshalled  a  single  brigade. 

Although  I  have  said  it  would  be  time  enough  to  answer 
the  question  which  gentlemen  have  put  to  me  when  they  shall 
have  answered  mine;  yet,  as  I  do  not  like  long  prorogations, 
I  will  give  them  an  answer  now.  I  will  never  consent  to  go 
to  war  for  that  which  I  cannot  protect.  I  deem  it  no  sacri- 
fice of  dignity  to  say  to  the  Leviathan  of  the  deep.  We  are 
unable  to  contend  with  you  in  your  own  element,  but  if  you 
come  within  our  actual  limits  we  will  shed  our  last  drop  of 
blood  in  their  defence.  In  such  an  event  I  would  feel,  not 
reason;  and  obey  an  impulse  which  never  has  —  which  never 
can  deceive  me. 

France  is  at  war  with  England:  suppose  her  power  on  the 
continent  of  Europe  no  gTeater  than  it  is  on  the  ocean.  How 
would  she  make  her  enemy  feel  it?  There  would  be  a  per- 
fect non-conductor  between  them.  So  with  the  United  States 
and  England;  she  scarcely  presents  to  us  a  vulnerable  point. 
Her  commerce  is  carried  on,  for  the  most  part,  in  fleets ;  where 
in  single  ships,  they  are  stout  and  well  armed;  very  different 
from  the  state  of  her  trade  during  the  American  war,  when 
her  merchantmen  became  the  prey  of  paltry  privateers.  Great 
Britain  has  been  too  long  at  war  with  the  three  most  powerful 


430  JOHN    RANDOLPH 

maritime  nations  of  Europe  not  to  have  learnt  how  to  pro- 
tect her  trade.  She  can  afford  convoy  to  it  all ;  she  has  eight 
hundred  ships  in  commission:  the  navies  of  her  enemies  are 
annihilated. 

Thus  this  war  has  presented  the  new  and  curious  political 
spectacle  of  a  regular  annual  increase  (and  to  an  immense 
amount)  of  her  imports  and  exports,  and  tonnage  and  revenue, 
and  all  the  insignia  of  accumulating  wealth,  whilst  in  every 
former  war,  without  exception,  these  have  suffered  a  greater 
or  less  diminution.     And  wherefore? 

Because  she  has  driven  France,  Spain,  and  Holland  from 
the  ocean.  Their  marine  is  no  more.  I  verily  believe  that 
ten  English  ships  of  the  line  would  not  decline  a  meeting  with 
the  combined  fleets  of  those  nations. 

I  forewarn  the  gentleman  from  Massachusetts,  and  his  con- 
stituents of  Salem,  that  all  their  golden  hopes  are  vain.  I 
forewarn  them  of  the  exposure  of  their  trade  beyond  the  Cape 
of  Good  Hope  (or  now  doubling  it)  to  capture  and  confiscation; 
of  their  unprotected  seaport  towns  exposed  to  contribution  or 
bombardment.  Are  we  to  be  legislated  into  a  war  by  a  set 
of  men  who  in  six  weeks  after  its  commencement  may  be 
compelled  to  take  refuge  with  us  in  the  country? 

And  for  what?  a  mere  fungus  —  a  mushroom  production 
of  war  in  Europe,  which  will  disap])ear  with  the  first  return 
of  peace  —  an  unfair  truce.  For  is  there  a  man  so  credulous 
as  to  believe  that  we  possess  a  capital  not  only  equal  to  what 
may  be  called  our  own  proper  trade,  but  large  enough  also 
to  transmit  to  the  respective  parent  States  the  vast  and 
wealthy  products  of  the  French,  Spanish,  and  Dutch  colonies? 
'Tis  beyond  the  belief  of  any  rational  being. 

But  this  is  not  my  only  objection  to  entering  upon  this 
naval  warfare.     I  am  averse  to  a  naval  war  with  any  nation 


ON    FOREIGN    IMPORTATIONS  43X 

whatever.  I  was  opposed  to  the  naval  war  of  the  last  admin- 
istration, and  I  am  as  ready  to  oppose  a  naval  war  of  the 
present  administration  should  they  medita^te  such  a  measure. 
What!  shall  this  great  mammoth  of  the  American  forest 
leave  his  native  element,  and  plunge  into  the  water  in  a  mad 
contest  with  the  shark?  Let  him  beware  that  his  proboscis  is 
not  bitten  off  in  the  engagement.  Let  him  stay  on  shore,  and 
not  be  excited  by  the  mussels  and  periwinkles  on  the  strand, 
or  political  bears,  in  a  boat  to  venture  on  the  perils  of  the 
deep. 

Gentlemen  say,  Will  you  not  protect  your  violated  rights  ? 
and  I  say,  Why  take  to  water,  where  you  can  neither  fight 
nor  swim  ?  Look  at  France ;  see  her  vessels  sftealing  from  port 
to  port  on  her  own  coast;  and  remember  that  she  is  the  first 
military  power  of  the  earth,  and  as  a  naval  people  second 
only  to  England.  Take  away  the  British  navy,  and  France 
to-morrow  is  the  tyrant  of  the  ocean. 

This  brings  me  to  the  second  point.  How  far  is  it  politic 
in  the  United  States  to  throw  their  weight  into  the  scale  of 
France  at  this  moment?  —  from  whatever  motive  to  aid  the 
views  of  her  gigantic  ambition  —  to  make  her  mistress  of  the 
sea  and  land  —  to  jeopardize  the  liberties  of  mankind.  Sir, 
you  may  help  to  crush  Great  Britain  —  you  may  assist  in 
breaking  down  her  naval  dominion,  but  you  cannot  succeed  to 
it.  The  iron  sceptre  of  the  ocean  will  pass  into  his  hands 
who  wears  the  iron  crown  of  the  land.  You  may  then  expect 
a  new  code  of  maritime  law.     Where  will  you  look  for  redress^ 

I  can  tell  the  gentleman  from  Massachusetts   that  there  i 
nothing  in  his  rule  of  three  that  will  save  us,  even  altthough 
he  should  outdo  himself  and  exceed  the  financial  ingenuity 
which  he  so  memorably  displayed  on  a  recent  occasion.     No, 
sir;  let  the  battle  of  Actium  be  once  fought,  and  the  whole  line 


432  JOHN    RANDOLPH 

of  seacoast  will  be  at  the  mercy  of  the  conqueror.  The  AWan- 
tic,  deep  and  wide  as  it  is,  will  prove  just  as  good  a  barrier 
against  his  ambition,  if  directed  against  you,  as  the  Mediter- 
ranean to  the  power  of  the  Caesars. 

Do  I  mean,  when  I  say  so,  to  crouch  to  the  invader?  !No, 
I  will  meet  him  at  the  water's  edge,  and  fight  every  inch  of 
ground  from  thence  to  the  mountains,  from  the  mountains  to 
the  Mississippi.  But  after  tamely  submitting  to  an  outrage 
on  your  domicile,  will  you  bully  and  look  big  at  an  insult  on 
your  flag  three  thousand  miles  off? 

But,  sir,  I  have  yet  a  more  cogent  reason  against  going  to 
war  for  the  honor  of  the  flag  in  the  narrow  seas,  or  any  other 
maritime  punctilio.  It  springs  from  my  attachment  to  the 
principles  of  the  government  under  which  I  live.  I  declare, 
in  the  face  of  day,  that  this  government  was  not  instituted  for 
the  purposes  of  offensive  war.  No;  it  was  framed,  to  use  its 
own  language,  for  the  common  defence  and  the  general  wel- 
fare, which  are  inconsistent  with  offensive  war. 

I  call  ithat  offensive  war  which  goes  out  of  our  jurisdiction 
and  limits  for  the  attainment  or  protection  of  objects  not 
within  those  limits  and  that  jurisdiction.  As  in  1798  I  was 
opposed  to  this  species  of  warfare  because  I  believed  it  would 
raze  the  constitution  to  the  very  foundation,  so  in  1806  am 
I  opposed  to  it,  and  on  the  same  grounds.  No  sooner  do  you 
put  the  constitution  to  this  use  —  to  a  test  which  it  is  by  no 
means  calculated  to  endure,  than  its  incompdtency  to  such  pur- 
poses becomes  manifest  and  apparent  to  all.  I  fear,  if  you  go 
into  a  foreign  war  for  a  circuitous  unfair  carrying  trade,  you 
will  come  out  without  your  constitution.  Have  you  not  con- 
tractors enough  in  this  House?  Or  do  you  want  to  be  over- 
nm  and  devoured  by  commissaries  and  all  the  vermin  of 
contract? 


ON    FOREIGN    IMPORTATIONS  433 

I  fear,  sir,  that  what  are  called  the  energy-men  will  rise  up 
again  —  men  who  will  burn  the  parchment.  We  shall  be  told 
that  our  government  is  too  free;  or,  as  they  would  say,  weak 
and  inefficient.  Much  virtue,  sir,  in  iterms.  That  we  must 
give  the  President  power  to  call  forth  the  resources  of  the 
nation;  that  is,  to  filch  the  last  shilling  from  our  pockets  —  to 
drain  the  last  drop  of  blood  from  our  veins.  I  am  against 
giving  this  power  to  any  man,  be  he  who  he  may.  The 
American  people  must  either  withhold  this  power  or  resign 
their  liberties. 

There  is  no  other  alternative.  Nothing  but  the  most 
imperious  necessity  will  justify  such  a  grant.  And  is  there 
a  powerful  enemy  at  our  doors?  You  may  begin  with  a  first 
consul ;  from  that  chrysalis  state  he  soon  becomes  an  emperor. 
You  have  your  choice.  It  depends  upon  your  election  whether 
you  will  be  a  free,  happy,  and  united  people  at  home,  or  the 
light  of  your  executive  majesty  shall  beam  across  the  Atlantic 
in  one  general  blaze  of  the  public  liberty. 

For  my  part  I  never  will  go  to  war  but  in  self-defence.  I 
have  no  desire  for  conquests  —  no  ambition  to  possess  Nova 
Scotia  —  I  hold  the  liberties  of  this  people  at  a  higher  rate. 
Much  more  am  I  indisposed  to  war  when  among  the  first 
means  for  carrying  it  on  I  see  gentlemen  propose  the  confisca- 
tion of  debts  due  by  government  to  individuals.  Does  a 
bona  fide  creditor  know  who  holds  his  paper?  Dare  any  hon- 
est man  ask  himself  the  question?  'Tis  hard  to  say  whether 
such  principles  are  more  detestably  dishonest  than  they  are 
weak  and  foolish.  What,  sir;  will  you  go  about  with  pro- 
posals for  opening  a  loan  in  one  hand  and  a  sponge  for  the 
national  debt  in  the  other? 

If,  on  a  latte  occasion,  you  could  not  borrow  at  a  less  rate 
of  interest  than  eight  per  cent   when  the  government  avowed 

Vol.  4— 1>8 


434  JOHN    RANDOLPH 

that  they  would  pay  to  the  last  shilling  of  the  public  ability, 
at  what  price  do  you  expect  to  raise  money  with  an  avowal  of 
these  nefarious  opinions^  God  help  you!  if  these  are  your 
ways  and  means  for  carrying-  on  war  —  if  your  finances  are  in 
the  hands  of  such  a  chancellor  of  the  exchequer. 

Because  a  man  can  take  an  observation  and  keep  a  log-book 
and  a  reckoning;  can  navigate  a  cock-boat  to  the  West  Indies, 
or  the  East ;  shall  he  aspire  to  navigate  !the  great  vessel  of  state 
—  to  stand  at  the  helm  of  public  councils?  "  Ne  sutor  ultra 
crepidam.^^^  What  are  you  going  to  war  for?  For  the  carry- 
ing trade.  Already  you  possess  seven  eighths  of  it.  What 
is  the  object  in  dispute  ?  The  fair,  honest  trade,  that  exchanges 
the  produce  of  our  soil  for  foreign  articles  for  home  consump- 
tion?    Not  at  all. 

You  are  called  upon  to  sacrifice  this  necessary  branch  of 
your  navigation,  and  the  great  agricultural  interest,  whose 
handmaid  it  is,  to  jeopardize  your  best  interests,  for  a  circuit- 
ous commerce,  for  the  fraudulent  protection  of  belligerent 
property  under  your  neutral  flag.  Will  you  be  goaded  by 
the  dreaming  calculations  of  insatiate  avarice  to  stake  your 
all  for  the  protection  of  this  trade?  1  do  not  speak  of  the 
probable  effects  of  war  on  the  price  of  our  produce;  severely 
as  we  must  feel,  we  may  scufile  through  it.  I  speak  of  its 
reaction  on  the  constitution. 

You  may  go  to  war  for  this  excrescence  of  the  carrying 
trade,  and  make  peace  at  the  expense  of  the  constitution. 
Your  executive  will  lord  it  over  you,  and  you  must  make 
the  best  terms  with  the  conqueror  that  you  can. 

But  the  gentleman  from  Pennsylvania  [Mr.  (Jregg]  tells 
you  that  he  is  for  acting  in  this,  as  in  all  things,  uninfluenced 
by  the  opinion  of  any  foreign  minister  whatever  —  foreign, 

*  "  Let  not  the  cobbler  go  beyond  his  last." 


ON    FOREIGN    IMPORTATIONS  435 

or,  I  presume,  domestic.  On  this  bead  I  am  willing  to  meet 
the  gentleman,  am  unwilling  to  be  dictated  to  by  any  minister 
at  home  or  abroad.  Is  he  willing  to  act  on  the  same  inde- 
pendent footing?  I  have  before  protested,  and  I  again 
protest,  against  secret,  irresponsible,  overruling  influence. 
The  first  question  I  asked  when  I  saw  the  gentleman's  reso- 
lution was,  "Is  this  a  measure  of  the  cabinet?"  Not  an 
open  declared  cabinet,  but  an  invisible,  inscrutable,  uncon- 
stitutional cabinet  —  without  responsibility,  unknown  to  the 
constitution.  I  speak  of  back-stairs  influence,  of  men  who 
bring  messages  to  this  House,  which,  although  they  do  not 
appear  on  the  journals,  govern  its  decisions.  Sir,  the  first 
question  that  I  asked  on  the  subject  of  British  relations 
was,  what  was  the  opinion  of  the  cabinet?  What  meas- 
ures Avill  they  recommend  to  Congress  ?  —  wxll  knowing  that 
w^iatever  measures  we  might  take  they  must  execute  them, 
and  therefore  that  we  should  have  their  opinion  on  the  sub- 
ject —  My  answer  was  (and  from  a  cabinet  minister  too), 
"  There  is  no  longer  any  cabinet."  Subsequent  circum- 
stances, sir,  have  given  me  a  personal  knowledge  of  the  fact. 
It  needs  no  commentary. 

But  the  gentleman  has  told  you  that  we  ought  to  go  to  war, 
if  for  nothing  else,  for  the  fur  trade.  Now,  sir,  the  people  on 
whose  support  he  seems  to  calculate,  follow,  let  me  tell  him, 
a  better  business;  and  let  me  add  that  whilst  men  are  happy 
at  home  reaping  their  own  fields,  the  fruits  of  their  labor  and 
industry,  there  is  little  danger  of  their  being  induced  to  go 
sixteen  or  seventeen  hundred  miles  in  pursuit  of  beavers,  rac- 
coons or  opossums  —  much  less  of  going  to  war  for  the  privi- 
lege.    They  are  better  employed  where  they  are. 

This  trade,  sir,  may  be  important  to  Britain,  to  nations  who 
have  exhausted  every  resource  of  industry  at  home  —  bowed 


436  JOHN    RANDOLPH 

down  by  taxation  and  wretchedness.  Let  them,  in  God's 
name,  if  they  please,  follow  the  fur  trade.  They  may,  for 
me,  catch  every  beaver  in  North  America.  Yes,  sir,  our 
people  have  a  better  occupation  —  a  safe,  profitable,  honorable 
employment. 

"Whilst  they  should  be  engaged  in  distant  regions  in  hunting 
the  beaver,  they  dread  lest  those  whose  natural  prey  they  are 
should  begin  to  hunt  them  —  should  pillage  their  property 
and  assassinate  their  constitution.  Instead  of  these  wild 
schemes  pay  off  your  public  debt,  instead  of  prating  about 
its  confiscation.  Do,  not,  I  beseech  you,  expose  at  once  your 
knavery  and  your  folly.  You  have  more  lands  than  you 
know  what  to  do  with  —  you  have  lately  paid  fifteen  millions 
for  yet  more.  Go  and  work  them  —  and  cease  to  alarm  the 
people  with  the  cry  of  wolf  until  they  become  deaf  to  your 
voice  or  at  least  laugh  at  you. 

]\Ir.  Chairman,  if  I  felt  less  regard  for  what  I  deem  the 
best  interests  of  this  nation  than  for  my  own  reputation  I 
should  not  on  this  day  have  offered  to  address  you;  but  would 
have  waited  to  come  out,  bedecked  with  flowers  and  bouquets 
of  rhetoric,  in  a  set  speech.  But,  sir,  I  dread  lest  a  tone  might 
be  given  to  the  mind  of  the  committee  —  they  will  pardon  me, 
but  I  did  fear,  from  all  that  T  could  see  or  hear,  that  they 
might  be  prejudiced  by  its  advocates  (under  pretence  of  pro- 
tecting our  commerce)  in  favor  of  this  ridiculous  and  prepos- 
terous project  —  I  rose,  sir,  for  one,  to  plead  guilty  —  to 
declare  in  the  face  of  day  that  I  will  not  go  to  war  for  this 
carrying  trade.  I  will  agree  to  pass  for  an  idiot  if  this  is  not 
the  public  sentiment;  and  you  will  find  it  to  your  cost,  begin 
the  war  when  you  will. 

Gentlemen  talk  of  1793.  They  might  as  well  go  back  to 
the   Trojan    war.     "What   was   yoijr   situation    then?     Then 


ON    FOREIGN    IMPORTATIONS  '        437 

every  heart  beat  high  with  sympathy  for  France  —  for  repub- 
lican France !  I  am  not  prepared  to  say,  with  my  friend  from 
Pennsylvania,  that  we  were  all  ready  to  draw  our  swords  in 
her  cause,  but  I  affirm  that  we  were  prepared  to  have  gone 
great  lengths. 

I  am  not  ashamed  to  pay  this  compliment  to  the  hearts  of 
the  American  people  even  at  the  expense  of  their  under- 
standings. It  was  a  noble  and  generous  sentiment,  which 
nations,  like  individuals,  are  never  the  worse  for  having  felt. 
They  were,  I  repeat  it,  ready  to  make  great  sacrifices  for 
France.  And  why  ready?  because  she  was  fighting  the  bat- 
tles of  the  human  race  against  the  combined  enemies  of  their 
liberty;  because  she  was  performing  the  part  which  Great 
Britain  now  in  fact  sustains  —  forming  the  only  bulwark 
against  universal  dominion.  Knock  away  her  navy,  and 
where  are  you?  Under  the  naval  despotism  of  France, 
unchecked,  unqualified  by  any  antagonizing  military  power  — 
at  best  but  a  change  of  masters.  The  tyrant  of  the  ocean 
and  the  tyrant  of  the  land  is  one  and  the  same, —  lord  of  all, 
and  who  shall  say  him  nay,  or  wherefore  doest  thou  this  thing? 
Give  to  the  tiger  the  properties  of  the  shark,  and  there  is  no 
longer  safety  for  the  beasts  of  the  forests  or  the  fishes  of  the 
sea. 

Where  was  this  high  anti-Britannic  spirit  of  the  gentleman 
from  Pennsylvania  when  his  vote  would  have  put  an  end  to 
the  British  treaty,  that  pestilent  source  of  evil  to  this  country? 
and  at  a  time,  too,  when  it  was  not  less  the  interest  than  the 
sentiment  of  this  people  to  pull  down  Great  Britain  and  exalt 
France.  Then,  when  the  gentleman  might  have  acted  with 
effect,  he  could  not  screw  his  courage  to  the  sticking  place. 
Then  England  was  combined  in  what  has  proved  a  feeble, 
inefficient  coalition,  but  which  gave  just  cause  of  alarm  to 


438  JOHN    RANDOLPH 

every  friend  of  freedom.  Now,  the  liberties  of  the  human 
race  are  threatened  by  a  single  power,  more  formidable  than 
the  coalesced  world,  to  whose  utmost  ambition,  vast  as  it  is, 
the  naval  force  of  Great  Britain  forms  the  only  obstacle. 

I  am  perfectly  sensible  and  ashamed  of  the  trespass  I  am 
making  on  the  patience  of  the  committee;  but  as  I  know  not 
whether  it  will  be  in  my  power  to  trouble  them  again  on  this 
subject  I  must  beg  leave  to  continue  my  crude  and  desultory 
observations.     I  am  not  ashamed  to  confess  that  they  are  so. 

At  the  commencement  of  this  session  we  received  a  printed 
message  from  the  President  of  the  United  States,  breathing  a 
great  deal  of  national  honor  and  indication  of  the  outrages  we 
had  endured,  particularly  from  Spain.  She  was  specially 
named  and  pointed  at.  She  had  pirated  upon  your  commerce, 
imprisoned  your  citizens,  violated  your  actual  territory, 
invaded  the  very  limits  solemnly  established  between  the  two 
nations  by  the  treaty  of  San  Lorenzo. 

Some  of  the  State  legislatures  (among  others  the  very  State 
on  which  the  gentleman  from  Pennsylvania  relies  for  support) 
sent  forward  resolutions  pledging  their  lives,  their  fortunes, 
and  their  sacred  honor,  in  support  of  any  measures  you  might 
take  in  vindication  of  your  injured  rights.  Well,  sir,  what 
have  you  done?  You  have  had  resolutions  laid  upon  your 
table  —  gone  to  some  expense  of  printing  and  stationery  — 
mere  pen^  ink,  and  paper,  and  that's  all.  Like  time  political 
quacks,  you  deal  only  in  handbills  and  nostrums.  Sir,  I  blush 
to  see  the  record  of  our  proceedings;  they  resemble  but  the 
advertisements  of  patent  medicines.  Here  you  have  the 
"Worm-destroying  Lozenges,"  there,  "Church's  Cough 
Drops," — and,  to  crown  the  whole,  "Sloan's  Vegetable  Spe- 
cific," an  infallible  remedy  for  all  nervous  disorders  and  ver- 
tigoes of  brain-sick  politicians;  each  man  earnestly  adjuring 


ON    FOREIGN    IMPORTATIONS  439 

you  to  give  his  medicine  only  a  fair  trial.  If,  indeed,  these 
wonder-working  nostrums  could  perform  but  one  half  of  what 
they  promise,  there  is  little  danger  of  our  dying  a  political 
death,  at  this  time  at  least.  But,  sir,  in  politics  as  in  physic, 
the  doctor  is  oft-times  the  most  dangerous  disease  —  and  this 
I  take  to  be  our  case  at  present. 

But,  sir,  why  do  you  talk  of  Spain?  There  are  no  longer 
Pyrenees.  There  exists  no  such  nation  —  no  such  being  as  a 
Spanish  king  or  minister.  It  is  a  mere  juggle  played  off  for 
the  benefit  of  those  who  put  the  mechanism  into  motion.  You 
know,  sir,  that  you  have  no  differences  with  Spain  —  that 
she  is  the  passive  tool  of  a  superior  power,  to  whom  at  this 
moment  you  are  crouching.  Are  your  differences  indeed 
with  Spain?  And  where  are  you  going  to  send  your  political 
panacea  (resolutions  and  handbills  excepted),  your  sole  arca- 
num of  government  —  your  king  cure-all  ?  To  Madrid  ? 
No  —  you  are  not  such  quacks  as  not  to  know  where  the  shoe 
pinches  —  to  Paris.  You  know  at  least  where  the  disease  lies, 
and  there  apply  your  remedy.  "When  the  nation  anxiously 
demands  the  result  of  your  deliberations,  you  hang  your  heads 
and  blush  to  tell.  You  are  afraid  to  tell.  Your  mouth  is 
hermetically  sealed.  Your  honor  has  received  a  wound  which 
must  not  take  air.  Gentlemen  dare  not  come  forward  and 
avow  their  work,  much  less  defend  it  in  the  presence  of  the 
nation.  Give  them  all  they  ask,  that  Spain  exists,  and  what 
then  ?  After  shrinking  from  the  Spanish  jackal,  do  you  pre- 
sume to  bully  the  British  lion? 

But  here  it  comes  out.  Britain  is  your  rival  in  trade,  and 
governed,  as  you  are,  by  counting-house  politicians :  you  would 
sacrifice  the  paramount  interests  of  your  country  to  wound 
that  rival.  For  Spain  and  France  you  are  carriers  —  and 
from  customers  every  indignity  is  to  be  endured.     And  what 


440  JOHN    RANDOLPH 

is  the  nature  of  this  trade?  Is  it  that  can-ying  trade  which 
sends  abroad  the  flour,  tobacco,  cotton,  beef,  pork,  fish,  and 
lumber  of  this  country,  and  brings  back  in  return  foreign 
articles  necessary  for  our  existence  or  comfort? 

J^^o,  sir;  'tis  a  trade  carried  on,  the  Lord  knows  where  or 
by  whom :  now  doubling  Cape  Horn,  now  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope.  I  do  not  say  that  there  is  no  profit  in  it  —  for  it 
would  not  then  be  pursued  —  but  'tis  a  trade  that  tends  to 
assimilate  our  manners  and  government  to  those  of  the  most 
corrupt  countries  of  Europe,  Yes,  sir;  and  when  a  question 
of  great  national  magnitude  presents  itself  to  you,  causes  those 
who  now  prate  about  national  honor  and  spirit  to  pocket 
any  insult,  to  consider  it  as  a  mere  matter  of  debit  and  credit, 
a  business  of  profit  and  loss,  and  nothing  else. 

The  first  thing  that  struck  my  mind  when  this  resolution 
was  laid  on  the  table  was,  ^^unde  derivatur?"  a  question 
always  put  to  us  at  school  —  whence  comes  it?  Is  this  only 
the  putative  father  of  the  bantling  he  is  taxed  to  maintain,  or 
indeed  the  actual  parent,  the  real  progenitor  of  the  child?  or 
is  it  the  production  of  the  cabinet?  But  I  knew  you  had  no 
cabinet;  no  system.  I  had  seen  despatches  relating  to  vital 
measures  laid  before  you,  the  day  after  your  final  decision 
on  those  measures,  four  weeks  after  they  were  received;  not 
only  their  contents,  but  their  very  existence,  all  that  time, 
unsuspected  and  unknown  to  men,  whom  the  people  fondly 
believe  assist,  with  their  wisdom  and  experience,  at  every 
important  deliberation. 

Do  you  believe  that  this  system,  or  rather  this  no  system, 
will  do?  I  am  free  to  answer  it  will  not.  It  cannot  last.  I 
am  not  so  afraid  of  the  fair,  open,  constitutional,  responsible 
influence  of  government;  but  I  shrink  intuitively  from  this 
left-handed,  invisible,  irresponsible  influence  which  defies  the 


ON    FOREIGN    IMPORTATIONS  44I 

touch  but  pervades  and  decides  everything.  Let  the  execu- 
tive come  forward  to  the  legislature;  let  us  see  whilst  we  feel 
it.  If  we  cannot  rely  on  its  wisdom,  is  it  any  disparagement 
to  the  gentleman  from  Pennsylvania  to  say  that  I  cannot  rely 
upon  him? 

No,  sir,  he  has  mistaken  his  talent.  He  is  not  the  Palinurus 
on  whose  skill  the  nation,  at  this  trying  moment,  can  repose 
their  confidence.  I  will  have  nothing  to  do  with  this  paper; 
much  less  will  I  indorse  it  and  make  myself  responsible  for 
its  goodness.  I  will  not  put  my  name  to  it.  I  assert  that 
there  is  no  cabinet,  no  system,  no  plan.  That  which  I  believe 
in  one  place  I  shall  never  hesitate  to  say  in  another.  This  is 
no  time,  no  place,  for  mincing  our  steps.  The  people  have  a 
right  to  know  —  they  shall  know  —  the  state  of  their  affairs, 
at  least  as  far  as  I  am  at  liberty  to  communicate  them.  I 
speak  from  personal  knowledge.  Ten  days  ago  there  had 
been  no  consultation;  there  existed  no  opinion  in  your  execu- 
tive department;  at  least,  none  that  was  avowed.  On  the 
contrary  there  was  an  express  disavow^al  of  any  opinion  what- 
soever on  the  great  subject  before  you ;  and  I  have  good 
reason  for  saying  that  none  has  been  formed  since.  Some 
time  ago  a  book  was  laid  on  our  tables,  which  like  some  other 
bantlings,  did  not  bear  the  name  of  its  father.  Here  I  was 
taught  to  expect  a  solution  of  all  doubts ;  an  end  to  all  our 
difficulties.  If,  sir,  I  were  the  foe,  as  I  trust  I  am  the  friend, 
to  this  nation,  I  would  exclaim,  "  Oh !  that  mine  enemy  would 
write  a  book." 

At  the  very  outset,  in  the  very  first  page,  I  believe,  there 
is  a  complete  abandonment  of  the  principle  in  dispute.  Has 
any  gentleman  got  the  work?  [It  was  handed  by  one  of  the 
members.]  The  first  position  taken  is  the  broad  principle  of 
the  unlimited  freedom  of  trade    between  nations  at  peace, 


442  JOHN    RANDOLPH 

which  the  writer  endeavors  to  extend  to  the  trade  between  a 
neutral  and  a  belligerent  power;  accompanied,  howev^er,  by 
this  acknowledgment: 

"  But,  inasmuch  as  the  trade  of  a  neutral  with  a  belligerent 
nation  might,  in  certain  special  cases,  affect  the  safety  of  its 
antagonist,  usage,  founded  on  the  principle  of  necessity,  has 
admitted  a  few  exceptions  to  the  general  rule." 

Whence  comes  the  doctrine  of  contraband,  blockade,  and 
enemy's  property?  !N^ow,  sir,  for  what  does  that  celebrated 
pamphlet,  "War  in  Disguise,"  which  is  said  to  have  been 
written  under  the  eye  of  the  British  prime  minister,  contend, 
but  this  "principle  of  necessity."  And  this  is  abandoned  by 
this  pamphleteer  at  the  very  threshold  of  the  discussion.  But 
as  if  this  were  not  enough  he  goes  on  to  assign  as  a  reason  for 
not  referring  to  the  authority  of  the  ancients,  that  "  the  great 
change  which  has  taken  place  in  the  state  of  manners,  in  the 
maxims  of  war,  and  in  the  course  of  commerce,  make  it  pretty 
certain  " —  (what  degree  of  certainty  is  this  ?) —  "  that  either 
nothing  will  be  found  relating  to  the .  question,  or  nothing 
sufficiently  applicable  to  deserve  attention  in  deciding  it." 

Here,  sir,  is  an  apology  of  the  writer  for  not  disclosing  the 
whole  extent  of  his  learning  (which  might  have  overwhelmed 
the  reader),  in  the  admission  that  a  change  of  circumstances 
("  in  the  course  of  commerce  ")  has  made,  and  therefore  will 
now  justify,  a  total  change  of  the  law  of  nations.  What 
more  could  the  most  inveterate  advocate  of  English  usurpation 
demand?  What  else  can  they  require  to  establish  all  and 
even  more  than  they  contend  for  ?  Sir,  there  is  a  class  of  men 
(we  know  them  very  well)  who,  if  you  only  permit  them  to 
lay  the  foundation,  will  build  you  \vp,  step  by  step,  and  brick 
by  brick  —  very  neat  and  showy  if  not  tenable  arguments. 
To  detect  them,  'tis  only  necessary  to  watch  their  premises, 


ON    FOREIGN    IMPORTATIONS  443 

where  you  will  often  find  the  point  at  issue  totally  surren- 
dered, as  in  this  case  it  is.  Again :  is  the  "  mare  liberum  " 
anywhere  asserted  in  this  book  —  that  free  ships  make  free 
goods? 

JSTo,  sir;  the  right  of  search  is  acknowledged;  that  enemy's 
property  is  lawful  prize,  is  sealed  and  delivered.  And  after 
abandoning  these  principles,  what  becomes  of  the  doctrine 
that  a  mere  shifting  of  the  goods  from  one  ship  to  another,  the 
touching  at  another  port,  changes  the  property?  Sir,  give  up 
this  principle,  and  there  is  an  end  to  the  question.  You  lie  at 
the  mercy  of  the  conscience  of  a  court  of  admiralty. 

Is  Spanish  sugar  or  French  coffee  made  American  property 
by  the  mere  change  of  the  cargo,  or  even  by  the  landing  and 
payment  of  the  duties?  Does  this  operation  effect  a  change 
of  property?  And  when  those  duties  are  drawn  back,  and  the 
sugars  and  coffee  re-exported,  are  they  not,  as  enemy's  prop- 
erty, liable  to  seizure  upon  the  principles  of  the  "  examination 
of  the  British  doctrine,"  etc.  And  is  there  not  the  best  reason 
to  believe  that  this  operation  is  performed  in  many  if  not  in 
most  cases,  to  give  a  neutral  aspect  and  color  to  the 
merchandise  ? 

I  am  prepared,  sir,  to  be  represented  as  willing  to  surrender 
important  rights  of  this  nation  to  a  foreign  government.  I 
have  been  told  that  this  sentiment  is  already  whispered  in  the 
dark  by  time-servers  and  sycophants;  but  if  your  clerk  dared 
to  print  them  I  would  appeal  to  your  journals! — I  would 
call  for  the  reading  of  them ;  but  that  I  know  they  are  not  for 
profane  eyes  to  look  upon.  I  confess  that  I  am  more  ready 
to  surrender  to  a  naval  power  a  square  league  of  ocean  than  to 
a  territorial  one  a  square  inch  of  land  within  our  limits; 
and  I  am  ready  to  meet  the  friends  of  the  resolution  on  this 
ground   at  any  time. 


444  JOHN    RANDOLPH 

Let  them  take  off  the  injunction  of  secrecy.  They  dare  not. 
They  are  ashamed  and  afraid  to  do  it.  They  may  give  winks 
and  nods  and  pretend  to  be  wise,  but  they  dare  not  come  out 
and  tell  the  nation  what  they  have  done. 

Gentlemen  may  take  notes  if  they  please;  but  I  will  never, 
from  any  motives  short  of  self-defence,  enter  upon  war.  I 
will  never  be  instrumental  to  the  ambitious  schemes  of  Bona- 
parte, nor  put  into  his  hands  what  will  enable  him  to  wield 
the  world ;  and  on  the  very  principle  that  I  wished  success  to 
the  French  arms  in  1793.  And  wherefore?  Because  the 
case  is  changed.  Great  Britain  can  never  again  see  the  year 
1760.  Her  Continental  influence  is  gone  forever.  Let  who 
will  be  uppermost  on  the  continent  of  Europe,  she  must  find 
more  than  a  counterpoise  for  her  strength.  Her  race  is  run. 
She  can  only  be  formidable  as  a  maritime  power ;  and  even  as 
such  perhaps  not  long.  Are  you  going  to  justify  the  acts  of 
the  last  administration,  for  which  they  have  been  deprived  of 
the  government,  at  our  instance?  Are  you  going  back  to  the 
ground  of  1798-9? 

I  ask  of  any  man  who  now  advocates  a  rupture  with  Eng- 
land to  assign  a  single  reason  for  his  opinion,  that  would  not 
have  justified  a  French  war  in  1798.  If  injury  and  insult 
abroad  would  have  justified  it,  we  had  them  in  abundance 
then.  But  what  did  the  republicans  say  at  that  day?  That 
under  the  cover  of  a  war  with  France  the  executive  would  be 
armed  mth  a  patronage  and  power  which  might  enable  it  to 
master  our  liberties.  They  deprecated  foreign  war  and  navies, 
and  standing  armies,  and  loans,  and  taxes.  The  delirium 
passed  away,  the  good  sense  of  the  people  triumphed,  and 
our  differences  were  accommodated  mthout  a  war.  And 
what  is  there  in  the  situation  of  England  that  invites  to  war 
with  her?     'Tis  true  she  does  not  deal  so  largely  in  perfecti- 


ON    FOREIGN    IMPORTATIONS  445 

bility,  but  she  supplies  you  with  a  much  more  useful  com- 
modity—  with  coarse  woollens.  With  less  professions 
indeed  she  occupies  the  place  of  France  in  1793.  She  is  the 
sole  bulwark  of  the  human  race  against  universal  dominion. 
No  thanks  to  her  for  it.  In  protecting  her  own  existence  she 
ensures  theirs,  I  care  not  who  stands  in  this  situation, 
whether  England  or  Bonaparte ;  I  practise  the  doctrines  now 
that  I  professed  in  1798. 

Gentlemen  may  hunt  up  the  journals  if  they  please  —  I 
voted  against  all  such  projects  under  the  administration  of 
John  Adams,  and  I  will  continue  to  do  so  under  that  of 
Thomas  Jefferson.  Are  you  not  contented  with  being  free 
and  happy  at  home?  Or  will  you  surrender  these  blessings, 
that  your  merchants  may  tread  on  Turkish  and  Persian  car- 
pets and  burn  the  perfumes  of  the  East  in  their  vaulted 
rooms  ? 

Gentlemen  say,  'tis  but  an  annual  million  lost,  and  even  if  it 
were  five  times  that  amount  what  is  it  compared  with  your 
neutral  rights?  Sir,  let  me  tell  them  a  hundred  millions  will 
be  but  a  drop  in  the  bucket  if  once  they  launch  without  rud- 
der or  compass  into  this  ocean  of  foreign  warfare.  Whom 
do  they  want  to  attack  —  England  ?  They  hope  it  is  a  popular 
thing,  and  talk  about  Bunker's  Hill  and  the  gallant  feats 
of  our  revolution.  But  is  Bunker's  Hill  to  be  the  theatre  of 
war  ?  jSTo,  sir,  you  have  selected  the  ocean ;  and  the  object 
of  attack  is  that  very  navy  which  prevented  the  combined 
fleets  of  France  and  Spain  from  levying  contributions  upon 
you  in  your  own  seas ;  that  very  navy  which  in  the  famous 
war  of  1798  stood  between  you  and  danger. 

Whilst  the  fleets  of  the  enemy  were  pent  up  in  Toulon  or 
pinioned  in  Brest  we  performed  wonders,  to  be  sure ;  but,  sir, 
if  England  had  drawn  off,  France  would  have  told  you  quite  a 


•i  16  JOHN    RANDOLPH 

different  talc.  Yon  would  have  struck  no  medals.  This  is 
not  the  sort  of  conflict  that  you  are  to  count  upon  if  you  go  to 
war  with  Great  Britain. 

"'  Quern  Deus  vult  perdere  prius  dementnt.^^^  And  are  you 
mad  enough  to  take  up  the  cudgels  that  have  been  struck 
from  the  nerveless  hands  of  the  three  great  maritime  powers  of 
Europe?  Shall  the  planter  mortgage  his  little  crop  and  jeop- 
ardize the  constitution  in  support  of  commercial  monopoly, 
in  the  vain  hope  of  satisfying  the  insatiable  greediness  of 
trade  ?  Administer  the  constitution  upon  principles  for  the 
general  welfare,  and  not  for  the  benefit  of  any  particular  class 
of  men.  Do  you  meditate  war  for  the  possession  of  Baton 
Rouge  or  Mobile,  places  which  your  own  laws  declare  to  be 
within  your  limits?  Is  it  even  for  the  fair  trade  that 
exchanges  your  surplus  products  for  such  foreign  articles  as 
you  require  ?  No,  sir,  'tis  for  a  circuitous  traffic  —  an  ignis 
fatuus. 

And  against  whom?  A  nation  from  whom  you  have  any- 
thing to  fear?  I  speak  as  to  our  liberties.  No,  sir,  with  a 
nation  from  whom  you  have  nothing,  or  next  to  nothing,  to 
fear  —  to  the  aggrandizement  of  one  against  which  you  have 
everything  to  dread.  I  look  to  their  ability  and  interest, 
not  to  their  disposition.  When  you  rely  on  that,  the  case  is 
desperate.  Is  it  to  be  inferred  from  all  this  that  I  would 
yield  to  Great  Britain?  No;  I  would  act  towards  her  now 
as  I  was  disposed  to  do  towards  France  in  1798-9  —  treat  with 
her;  and  for  the  same  reason,  on  the  same  principles.  Do  I 
say  treat  with  her?  At  this  moment  you  have  a  negotiation 
pending  with  her  government.  With  her  you  have  not  tried 
negotiation  and  failed,  totally  failed,  as  you  have  done  with 
Spain,  or  rather  France.  And  wherefore,  under  such  cir- 
'  Whom  God  wishes  to  destroy  he  first  makes  mad. 


ON    FOREIGN    IMPORTATIONS  447 

cumstances,  this  hostile  spirit  to  the  one,  and  this  —  I  won't 
say  what  —  to  the  other  ? 

But  a  great  deal  is  said  about  the  laws  of  nations.  "What 
is  national  law  but  national  power  guided  by  national  inter- 
est? You  yourselves  acknowledge  and  practise  upon  this 
principle  where  you  can,  or  where  you  dare, — with  the  Indian 
tribes,  for  instance.  I  might  give  another  and  more  forcible 
illustration.  Will  the  learned  lumber  of  your  libraries  add  a 
ship  to  your  fleet  or  a  shilling  to  your  revenue  ?  Will  it  pay 
or  maintain  a  single  soldier?  And  will  you  preach  and  prate 
of  violations  of  your  neutral  rights  when  you  tamely  and 
meanly  submit  to  the  violation  of  your  territory?  Will  you 
collar  the  stealer  of  your  sheep,  and  let  him  escape  that  has 
invaded  the  repose  of  your  fireside ;  has  insulted  your  wife  and 
children  under  your  own  roof? 

This  is  the  heroism  of  truck  and  traffic  —  the  public  spirit 
of  sordid  avarice.  Great  Britain  violates  your  flag  on  the 
high  seas.  What  is  her  situation?  Contending,  not  for  the 
dismantling  of  Dunkirk,  for  Quebec,  or  Pondicherry,  but  for 
London  and  Westminster — ^for  life.  Her  enemy  violating 
at  will  the  territories  of  other  nations  —  acquiring  thereby  a 
colossal  power  that  threatens  the  very  existence  of  her  rival. 
But  she  has  one  vulnerable  point  to  the  arms  of  her  adversary 
which  she  covers  with  the  ensigns  of  neutrality.  She  draws 
the  neutral  flag  over  the  heel  of  Achilles.  And  can  you  ask 
that  adversary  to  respect  it  at  the  expense  of  her  existence  ? 
And  in  favor  of  whom  ?  —  an  enemy  that  respects  no  neutral 
territory  of  Europe,  and  not  even  your  own?  I  repeat  that 
the  insults  of  Spain  towards  this  nation  have  been  at  the  insti- 
gation of  France ;  that  there  is  no  longer  any  Spain.  Well, 
sir,  because  the  French  government  do  not  put  this  into  the 
"^Moniteur,"  you  choose  to  shut  your  eyes  to  it.  None  sO'  blind 


448  JOHN    RANDOLPH 

as  those  who  will  not  see.  You  shut  your  own  eyes,  and  to 
blind  those  of  other  people  you  go  into  conclave  and  slink 
out  again  and  say — "a  great  affair  of  State!" — C^est  une 
grande  affaire  cf  Etat! 

It  seems  that  your  sensibility  is  entirely  confined  to  the 
extremities.  You  may  be  pulled  by  the  nose  and  ears,  and 
never  feel  it;  but  let  your  strong-box  be  attacked,  and  you  are 
all  nerve  —  "Let  us  go  to  war!  "  Sir,  if  they  called  upon  me 
only  for  my  little  peculium  to  carry  it  on,  perhaps  I  might 
give  it :  but  my  rights  and  liberties  are  involved  in  the  grant, 
and  I  will  never  suiTcnder  them  whilst  I  have  life. 

The  gentleman  from  Massachusetts  [Mr.  Crowninshield] 
is  for  sponging  the  debt.  I  can  never  consent  to  it.  I 
will  never  bring  the  ways  and  means  of  fraudulent  bank- 
ruptcy into  your  committee  of  supply.  Confiscation  and 
swindling  shall  never  be  found  among  my  estimates,  to  meet 
the  current  expenditure  of  peace  or  war.  No,  sir.  I  have 
said  with  the  doors  closed,  and  I  say  so  when  they  are  open, 
"  Pay  the  public  debt."  Get  rid  of  that  dead  weight  upon 
your  government,  that  cramp  upon  all  your  measures,  and 
then  you  may  put  the  world  at  defiance. 

So  long  as  it  hangs  upon  you,  you  must  have  revenue,  and  to 
have  revenue  you  must  have  commerce  —  commerce,  peace. 
And  shall  these  nefarious  schemes  be  advised  for  lightening 
the  public  burdens?  will  you  resort  to  these  low  and  pitiful 
shifts?  will  you  dare  even  to  mention  these  dishonest  arti- 
fices to  eke  out  your  expenses  when  the  public  treasure  is 
lavished  .)n  Turks  and  infidels;  on  singing  boys,  and  danc- 
ing girls;  to  furnish  the  means  of  bestiality  to  an  Afri- 
can barbarian? 

Gentlemen  say  that  Great  Britain  will  count  upon  our 
di^^sions.     How!     What  does  she  know  of  them?     Can  they 


ON    FOREIGN    IMPORTATIONS  449 

ever  expect  greater  unanimity  than  prevailed  at  the  last 
Presidential  election?  'No,  sir,  'tis  the  gentleman's  own  con- 
science that  squeats.  But  if  she  cannot  calculate  upon  your 
divisions,  at  least  she  may  reckon  upon  your  pusillanimity. 
She  may  well  despise  the  resentment  that  cannot  be  excited 
to  honorable  battle  on  its  own  ground  —  the  mere  effusion  of 
mercantile  cupidity. 

Gentlemen  talk  of  repealing  the  British  treaty.  The  gen- 
tleman from  Pennsylvania  should  have  thought  of  that  before 
he  voted  to  carry  it  into  effect.  And  what  is  all  this  for? 
A  point  which  Great  Britain  will  not  abandon  to  Kussia  you 
expect  her  to  yield  to  you.  Russia  indisputably  the  second 
power  of  continental  Europe,  with  half  a  million  of  hardy 
troops,  with  sixty  sail  of  the  line,  thirty  millions  of  subjects, 
a  territory  more  extensive  even  than  our  own — Russia,  sir,  the 
storehouse  of  the  British  navy  —  whom  it  is  not  more  the 
policy  and  the  interest  than  the  sentiment  of  that  govern- 
ment to  soothe  and  to  conciliate;  her  sole  hope  of  a  diversion 
on  the  Continent  —  her  only  efficient  ally.  What  this  for- 
midable power  cannot  obtain  mth  fleets  and  armies  you  will 
command  by  writ  —  with  pot-hooks  and  hangers. 

I  am  for  no  such  policy.  True  honor  is  always  the  same. 
Before  you  enter  into  a  contest,  public  or  private,  be  sure 
you  have  fortitude  enough  to  go  through  with  it.  If  you 
mean  war,  say  so,  and  prepare  for  it. 

Look  on  the  other  side  —  behold  the  respect  in  which  France 
holds  neutral  rights  on  land  —  observe  her  conduct  in  regard 
to  the  Franconian  estates  of  the  King  of  Prussia :  I  say  noth- 
ing of  the  petty  powers  —  of  the  Elector  of  Baden,  or  of  the 
Swiss:  I  speak  of  a  first-rate  monarchy  of  Europe,  and  at  a 
moment  too  when  its  neutrality  was  the  object  of  all  others 
nearest  to  the  heart  of  the  French  Emperor.     If  vou  make 

Vol.  4—29 


450  JOHN    KANDOLPH 

Hm  monarch  of  the  ocean,  you  may  bid  adieu  to  it  for- 
ever. 

You  may  take  your  leave,  sir,  of  navigation  —  even  of  the 
Mississippi.  "What  is  the  situation  of  New  Orleans  if 
attacked  to-morrow?  Filled  with  a  discontented  and  repining 
people,  whose  language,  manners,  and  religion  all  incline 
them  to  the  invader —  a  dissatisfied  people,  who  despise  the 
miserable  governor  you  have  set  over  them  —  whose  honest 
prejudices  and  basest  passions  alike  take  part  against  you. 
I  draw  my  information  from  no  dubious  source  —  from  a 
native  American,  an  enlightened  member  of  that  odious  and 
imbecile  government.  You  have  official  information  that 
the  town  and  its  dependencies  are  utterly  defenceless  and 
untenable  —  a  firm  belief  that,  apprised  of  this,  government 
would  do  something  to  put  the  place  in  a  state  of  security, 
alone  has  kept  theAmerican  portion  of  that  community  quiet. 
You  have  held  that  post  —  you  now  hold  it  —  by  the  tenure 
of  the  naval  predominance  of  England,  and  yet  you  are  for  a 
British  naval  war. 

There  are  now  two  great  commercial  nations.  Great  Brit- 
ain is  one  —  we  are  the  other.  When  you  consider  the  many 
points  of  contact  between  your  interests,  you  may  be  surprised 
that  there  has  been  so  little  collision.  Sir,  to  the  other  bel- 
ligerent nations  of  Europe  your  navigation  is  a  convenience, 
I  might  say  a  necessary.  If  you  do  not  carry  for  them  they 
must  stance,  at  least  for  the  luxuries  of  life,  which  custom  has 
rendered  almost  indispensable.  And  if  you  cannot  act  with 
some  degree  of  spirit  towards  those  who  are  dependent  upon 
you  as  carriers,  do  you  reckon  to  browbeat  a  jealous  rival 
who,  the  moment  she  lets  slip  the  dogs  of  war,  sweeps  you,  at 
a  blow,  from  the  ocean?  And  cui  bono?  for  whose  benefit? 
—  The  planter?     Nothing   like  it.     The   fair,    honest,   real 


ON    FOREIGN    IMPORTATIONS 


451 


American  merchant?  'No,  sir  —  for  renegadoes;  to-day- 
American  —  to-morrow,  Danes.  Go  to  war  when  you  will, 
the  property  now  covered  by  the  American  will  then  pass 
under  the  Danish  or  some  other  neutral  flag.  Gentlemen 
say  that  one  English  ship  is  worth  three  of  ours:  we  shall 
therefore  have  the  advantage  in  privateering.  Did  they  ever 
know  a  nation  get  rich  by  privateering? 

This  is  stuff  for  the  nursery.  Remember  that  your 
products  are  bulky  —  as  has  been  stated  —  that  they  require 
a  vast  tonnage.  Take  these  carriers  out  of  the  market  — 
what  is  the  result?  The  manufactures  of  England,  which 
(to  use  a  finishing  touch  of  the  gentleman's  rhetoric)  have 
received  the  finishing  stroke  of  art,  lie  in  a  small  comparative 
compass.  The  neutral  trade  can  carry  them.  Your  produce 
rots  in  the  warehouse  —  you  go  to  Statia  or  St.  Thomas's,  and 
get  a  striped  blanket  for  a  joe,  if  you  can  raise  one  —  double 
freight,  charges,  and  commissions.  Who  receives  the  profit? 
—  The  carrier.     Who  pays  it?  —  The  consumer. 

All  your  produce  that  finds  its  way  to  England  must  bear 
the  same  accumulated  charges,  with  this  difference:  that  there 
the  burden  falls  on  the  home  price.  I  appeal  to  the  experi- 
ence of  the  last  war,  which  has  been  so  often  cited.  What, 
then,  was  the  price  of  produce    and  of  broadcloth? 

But  you  are  told  England  will  not  make  war  —  she  has 
her  hands  full.  Holland  calculated  in  the  same  way  in  1781. 
How  did  it  turn  out?  You  stand  now  in  the  place  of  Hol- 
land, then  —  without  her  navy,  unaided  by  the  preponder- 
ating fieets  of  France  and  Spain,  to  say  nothing  of  the 
Baltic  powers.  Do  you  want  to  take  up  the  cudgels  where 
these  great  maritime  powders  have  been  forced  to  drop  them? 
to  meet  Great  Britain  on  the  ocean  and  drive  her  off  its  face  ? 
If  you  are  so  far  gone  as  this,  every  capital  measure  of  your 


452  JOHN    RANDOLPH 

policy  has  hitherto  been  wrong.  You  should  have  nurtured 
the  old  and  devised  new  systems  of  taxation  —  have  cherished 
your  navy.  Begin  this  business  when  you  may,  land  taxes, 
stamp  acts,  window  taxes,  hearth  money,  excise,  in  all  its 
modifications  of  vexation  and  oppression,  must  precede  or 
follow  after. 

But,  sir,  as  French  is  the  fashion  of  the  day,  I  may  be 
asked  for  my  projet.  I  can  readily  tell  gentlemen  what  I 
will  not  do.  I  will  not  propitiate  any  foreign  nation  with 
money.  I  will  not  launch  into  a  naval  war  with  Great  Brit- 
ain, although  I  am  ready  to  meet  her  at  the  Cow-pens  or 
Bunker's  Hill.     And  for  this  plain  reason. 

We  are  a  great  land  animal,  and  our  business  is  on  shore. 
I  will  send  her  no  money,  sir,  on  an}'  pretext  whatsoever, 
much  less  on  pretence  of  buying  Labrador  or  Botany  Bay, 
when  my  real  object  was  to  secure  limits  which  she  formally 
acknowledged  at  the  peace  of  1783.  I  go  further  —  I  would 
(if  anything)  have  laid  an  embargo.  This  would  have  got 
our  own  property  home  and  our  adversary's  into  our  power. 
If  there  is  any  wisdom  left  among  us  the  first  step  toward 
hostility  will  always  be  an  embargo.  In  six  months  all  your 
mercantile  megrims  would  vanish.  As  to  us,  although  it 
would  cut  deep,  we  can  stand  it.  Without  such  a  precaution, 
go  to  war  when  you  will,  you  go  to  the  wall.  As  to  debts, 
strike  the  balance  to-morrow,  and  England  is,  I  believe,  in 
our  debt. 

I  hope,  sir,  to  be  excused  for  proceeding  in  this  desultory 
course.  I  flatter  myself  I  shall  not  have  occasion  again  to 
trouble  you  —  I  know  not  that  I  shall  be  able  —  certainly 
not  willing,  unless  provoked  in  self-defence.  I  ask  your 
attention  to  the  character  of  the  inhabitants  of  that  southern 
country    on  whom  gentlemen  rely  for  the  support  of  their 


ON    FOREIGN    IMPORTATIONS  453 

measure.  Who  and  what  are  they?  A  simple  agricultural 
people,  accustomed  to  travel  in  peace  to  market  with  the 
produce  of  their  labor.     Who  takes  it  from  us? 

Another  people  devoted  to  manufactures  —  our  sole  source 
of  supply.  I  have  seen  some  stuff  in  the  newspapers  about 
manufactures  in  Saxony,  and  about  a  man  who  is  no  longer 
the  chief  of  a  dominant  faction.  The  greatest  man  whom 
I  ever  knew  —  the  immortal  author  of  the  letters  of  Curtius 
—  has  remarked  the  proneness  of  cunning  people  to  wrap  up 
and  disgTiise,  in  well-selected  phrases,  doctrines  too  deformed 
and  detestable  to  bear  exposure  in  naked  words;  by  a 
judicious  choice  of  epithets  to  draw  the  attention  from  the 
lurking  principle  beneath  and  perpetuate  delusion.  But  a 
little  while  ago,  and  any  man  might  be  proud  to  be  consid- 
ered as  the  head  of  the  republican  party.  Xow,  it  seems, 
'tis  reproachful  to  be  deemed  the  chief  of  a  dominant  fac- 
tion. 

Mark  the  magic  words!  Head,  chief.  Republican  party, 
dominant  faction.  But  as  to  these  Saxon  manufactures. 
What  became  of  their  Dresden  china?  Why,  the  Prussian 
bayonets  have  broken  all  the  pots,  and  you  are  content  with 
Worcestershire  or  Staffordshire  ware.  There  are  some  other 
fine  manufactures  on  the  Continent,  but  no  supply,  except, 
perhaps,  of  linens,  the  article  we  can  best  dispense  with.  A 
few  individuals,  sir,  may  have  a  coat  of  Louviers  cloth,  or  a 
service  of  Sevres  china ;  but  there  is  too  little,  and  that  little 
too  dear,  to  furnish  the  nation.  You  must  depend  on  the 
fur  trade  in  earnest,  and  wear  buffalo  hides  and  bear  skins. 

Can  any  man  who  understands  Europe  pretend  to  say 
that  a  particular  foreign  policy  is  now  right  because  it  would 
have  been  expedient  twenty  or  even  ten  years  ago,  without 
abandoning  all  regard  for  common  sense  ?     Sir,  it  is  the  states- 


454  JOHN    RANDOLPH     • 

man's  province  to  be  guided  by  circumstances,  to  anticipate, 
to  foresee  them,  to  give  them  a  course  and  a  direction,  to 
mold  them  to  his  purpose. 

It  is  the  business  of  a  counting-house  clerk  to  peer  into  the 
day-book  and  ledger,  to  see  no  further  than  the  spectacles  on 
his  nose,  to  feel  not  beyond  the  pert  behind  his  ear,  to 
chatter  in  coffee-houses,  and  be  the  oracle  of  clubs.  From 
1783  to  1793,  and  even  later  (I  don't  stickle  for  dates),  France 
had  a  formidable  marine  —  so  had  Holland  —  so  had  Spain. 
The  two  first  possessed  thriving  manufactures  and  a  flourish- 
ing commerce.  Great  Britain,  tremblingly  alive  to  her 
manufacturing  interests  and  carrying  trade,  would  have  felt 
to  the  heart  any  measure  calculated  to  favor  her  rivals  in- these 
pursuits;  she  would  have  yielded  then  to  her  fears  and  her 
jealousy  alone. 

What  is  the  case  now?  She  lays  an  export  duty  on  her 
manufactures,  and  there  ends  the  question.  If  Georgia  shall 
(from  whatever  cause)  so  completely  monopolize  the  culture 
of  cotton  as  to  be  able  to  lay  an  export  duty  of  three  per 
cent  upon  it,  besides  taxing  its  cultivators  in  every  other 
shape  that  human  or  infernal  ingenuity  can  devise,  is  Penn- 
sylvania likely  to  rival  her   or  take  away  the  trade? 

But,  sir,  it  seems  that  we  who  are  opposed  to  this  resolution 
are  men  of  no  nerves  —  who  trembled  in  the  days  of  the  Brit- 
ish treaty  —  cowards  (I  presume)  in  the  reign  of  terror!  Is 
this  true?  Hunt  up  the  journals;  let  our  actions  tell.  We 
pursue  our  unshaken  course.  We  care  not  for  the  nations  of 
Europe,  but  make  foreigTi  relations  bend  to  our  political 
principles  and  subserve  our  country's  interest.  We  have 
no  wish  to  see  another  Actium,  or  Pharsalia,  or  the  lieutenants 
of  a  modem  Alexander  playing  at  piquet  or  all-fours  for 
the  empire  of  the  world.     'Tis  poor  comfort  to  us   to  be  told 


ON    FOREIGN    IMPORTATIONS 


455 


that  France  has  too  decided  a  taste  for  luxurious  things  to 
meddle  with  us;  that  Egypt  is  her  object,  or  the  coast  of  Bar- 
bary.  and  at  the  worst  we  shall  be  the  last  devoured. 

We  are  enamored  with  neither  nation  —  we  Avould  play 
theii  own  game  upon  them,  use  them  for  our  interest  and 
convenience.  But  with  all  my  abhorrence  of  the  British 
government  I  should  not  hesitate  between  Westminster  Hall 
and  a  Middlesex  jury  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  wood  of 
Vincennes  and  a  file  of  grenadiers,  on  the  other.  That  jury 
trial  which  walked  with  Home  Tooke  and  Hardy  through 
the  flames  of  ministerial  persecution  is,  I  confess,  more  to 
my  taste  than  the  trial  of  the  Duke  d'Enghien. 

Mr.  Chairman,  I  am  sensible  of  having  detained  theJ  com- 
mittee longer  than  I  ought  —  certainly  much  longer  than  I 
intended.  I  am  equally  sensible  of  their  politeness,  and  not 
less  so,  sir,  of  your  patient  attention.  It  is  ^'^our  ow^n  indul- 
gence, sir,  badly  requited  indeed,  to  which  you  owe  this  per- 
secution. I  might  offer  another  apology  for  these  undigested, 
desultory  remarks;  my  never  having  seen  the  treasury  docu- 
ments. Until  I  came  into  the  House  this  morning  I  have 
been  stretched  on  a  sick  bed. 

But  when  I  behold  the  affairs  of  this  nation,  instead  of 
being  where  I  hoped,  and  the  people  believed  they  were,  in 
the  hands  of  responsible  men,  committed  to  Tom,  Dick,  and 
Harry  —  to  the  refuse  of  the  retail  trade  of  politics  —  I  do 
feel,  I  cannot  help  feeling,  the  most  deep  and  serious  concern. 
If  the  executive  government  would  step  forward  and  say, 
"  Such  is  our  plan,  such  is  our  opinion,  and  such  are  our 
reasons  in  support  of  it,"  I  would  meet  it  fairly,  would  openly 
oppose  or  pledge  myself  to  supnort  it.  But  without  compass 
or  polar  star  I  will  not  launch  into  an  ocean  of  unexplored 
measures    which  stand  condemned  by  all  the  information  to 


456  JOHN    RANDOLPH 

which  I  have  access.  The  constitution  of  the  United  States 
declares  it  to  be  the  province  and  duty  of  the  President  "to 
give  to  Congress,  from  time  to  time,  information  of  the  state 
of  the  Union,  and  recommend  to  their  consideration  such 
measures  as  he  shall  judge  expedient  and  necessary."  Has 
he  done  it?  I  know,  sir,  that  we  may  say,  and  do  say,  that 
we  are  independent  (would  it  were  true);  as  free  to  give  a 
direction  to  the  executive  as  to  receive  it  from  him.  But  do 
what  you  will,  foreign  relations  —  every  measure  short  of 
war,  and  even  the  coui'se  of  hostilities  —  depend  upon 
him.  He  stands  at  the  helm  and  must  guide  the  vessel  of 
state. 

I  think  our  citizens  just  as  well  entitled  to  know  what  has 
passed  as  the  llarquis  Yrujo,  who  has  bearded  your  Presi- 
dent to  his  face,  insulted  your  government  within  its  own 
peculiar  jurisdiction,  and  outraged  all  decency.  Do  you 
mistake  this  diplomatic  puppet  for  an  automaton?  He  has 
orders  for  all  he  does.  Take  his  instructions  from  his  pocket 
to-morrow",  they  are  signed  "  Charles  Maurice  Talleyrand." 

Let  the  nation  know  what  they  have  to  depend  upon.  Be 
true  to  them,  and  trust  me,  they  will  prove  true  to  them- 
selves and  to  you.  The  people  arc  honest;  now  at  home  at 
their  plows,  not  dreaming  of  what  you  are  about.  But  the 
spirit  of  inquiry  that  has  too  long  slept  will  be,  must  be, 
awakened.  Let  them  begin  to  think;  not  to  say  such  things 
are  proper  because  they  have  been  done,  but,  what  has  been 
done?  and  wherefore?  —  and  all  will  be  right. 


WILLIAM  WIRT 


William  Wirt,  an  able  American  lawyer,  author,  and  orator,  was  bom  at 
Bladensburg,  Md.,  Nov.  8,  1772,  and  died  at  Washington,  D.  C,  Feb.  18, 
1834.  After  an  education  obtained  at  several  classical  schools,  he  studied 
law,  was  admitted  to  the  Bar  in  1792,  and  began  the  practice  of  his  pro- 
fession at  Culpeper  Court  House,  Va.  Having  won  notice  as  a  lawyer,  he  re- 
moved in  1799  to  Richmond;  there  becoming,  first,  clerk  to  the  House  of  Delegates, 
and  later,  chancellor  of  the  eastern  district  of  Virginia.  He  was  in  1807  assisting- 
prosecuting  counsel  in  the  trial  of  Aaron  Burr,  the  principal  speech  which  he  delivered 
on  this  occasion  occupying  four  hours.  It  still  remains  his  most  admired  effort  and  is 
familiar  to  most  readers.  Less  noted,  but  still  noteworthy,  speeches  by  Wirt  are  those 
on  the  deaths  of  Jefferson  and  Adams  in  1826,  and  one  delivered  in  1830  at  Rutgers 
College.  In  1817,  Wirt  removed  to  Washington,  on  his  appointment  as  Attorney- 
General  of  the  United  States,  in  Monroe's  administration,  but  resigned  this  post  in 
1829,  and  for  the  remainder  of  his  life  pursued  the  practice  of  his  profession  at  Balti- 
more. Wirt's  early  style  of  oratory  was  ornate,  but  in  later  life  it  assumed  a  more 
sober,  dignified  character,  his  speeches  being  then  remarkable  for  their  close  reasoning, 
discrimination,  and  keen  analysis.  He  was  unusually  fine  looking  and  possessed  a 
clear,  melodious  voice  and  a  calm,  self-possessed  manner  of  delivery.  His  writings 
include  "Letters  of  a  British  Spy"  (1803);  "The  Old  Bachelor,"  a  series  of  essays, 
(1812);  "The  Two  Principal  Arguments  in  the  Trial  of  Aaron  Burr"  (1808); 
"Sketches  of  the  Life  and  Character  of  Patrick  Henry"  (1817),  and  various 
addresses. 

SPEECH   IN  THE  TRIAL  OF  AARON  BURR 

[In  May,  1807,  Aaron  Burr  was  arraigned  in  the  Circuit  Court  of  the  United  States, 
held  at  Richmond,  Virginia,  for  treason  in  preparing  the  means  of  a  military  expe- 
ditiou  against  the  possessions  of  the  King  of  Spain,  with  whom  the  United  States  were 
at  peace.  Under  the  direction  of  President  .Jefferson  Mr.  Wirt  was  retained  to  assist 
the  L'nited  States  attorney  in  the  prosecution,  and  in  the  course  of  the  trial  he  spoke 
as  follows:] 


M 


AY  IT  PLEASE  YOUK  HONORS,— It  is  my  duty 
to  proceed,  on  the  part  of  the  United  States,  in  oppos- 
ing this  motion.  But  I  should  not  deem  it  my  duty 
to  oppose  it  if  it  were  founded  on  correct  principles.  I  stand 
here  with  the  same  independence  of  action  which  belongs  to 
the  attorney  of  the  United  States;  and  as  he  would  certainly 

(457). 


458  WILLIAM    WIRT 

relinquish  the  prosecution  the  moment  he  became  convinced 
of  its  injustice,  so  also  most  certainly  would  I.  The  humanity 
and  justice  of  this  nation  would  revolt  at  the  idea  of  a  prosecu- 
tion pushed  on  against  a  life  which  stood  protected  by  the 
laws;  but  whether  they  would  or  not,  I  would  not  plant  a 
thorn,  to  rankle  for  life  in  my  heart,  by  opening  my  lips  in 
support  of  a  prosecution  which  I  felt  and  believed  to  be 
unjust. 

But  believing,  as  I  do,  that  this  motion  is  not  founded  in 
justice,  that  it  is  a  mere  manceuvre  to  obstruct  the  inquiry,  to 
turn  it  from  the  proper  course,  to  wrest  the  trial  of  the  facts 
from  the  proper  tribunal,  the  jury,  and  embarrass  the  court 
with  a  responsibility  which  it  ought  not  to  feel,  I  hold  it  my 
duty  to  proceed  —  for  the  sake  of  the  court,  for  the  sake  of 
vindicating  the  trial  by  jury,  now  sought  to  be  violated,  for  the 
sake  of  full  and  ample  justice  in  this  particular  case,  for  the 
sake  of  the  future  peace,  union,  and  independence  of  these 
States,  I  feel  it  my  bounden  duty  to  proceed.  In  doing  whici' 
I  beg  that  the  prisoner  and  his  counsel  will  recollect  the 
extreme  difficulty  of  clothing  my  argument  in  terms  which 
may  be  congenial  with  their  feelings. 

The  gentlemen  appear  to  me  to  feel  a  very  extraordinary 
and  unreasonable  degree  of  sensibility  on  this  occasion.  They 
seem  to  forget  the  nature  of  the  charge  and  that  we  are  the 
prosecutors.  We  do  not  stand  here  to  pronounce  a  panegyric 
on  the  prisoner,  but  to  urge  on  him  the  crime  of  treason 
against  his  country.  When  we  speak  of  treason  we  must  call 
it  treason.  When  we  speak  of  a  traitor  we  must  call  him  a 
traitor.  When  we  speak  of  a  plot  to  dismember  the  Union,  to 
undermine  the  liberties  of  a  great  portion  of  the  people  of  this 
country,  and  subject  them  to  a  usurper  and  a  despot,  we  are 
obliged  to  use  the  terms  which  convey  those  ideas. 


SPEECH    IN    THE    TRIAL    OF    AARON    BURR  459 

Why  then  are  gentlemen  so  sensitive  ?  Why  on  these  occa- 
sions, so  necessary,  so  unavoidable,  do  they  shrink  back  with 
so  much  agony  of  nerve  as  if,  instead  of  a  hall  of  justice,  we 
were  in  a  drawing-room  with  Colonel  Burr  and  were  barbar- 
ously violating  towards  him  every  principle  of  decorum  and 
humanity  ? 

Mr.  Wickham  has,  indeed,  invited  us  to  consider  the  subject 
abstractly,  and  we  have  been  told  that  it  is  expected  to  be 
so  considered;  but,  sir,  if  this  were  practicable,  would  there 
be  no  danger  in  it?  Would  there  be  no  danger,  while  we  were 
mooting  points,  pursuing  ingenious  hypotheses,  chasing  ele- 
mentary principles  over  the  wide  extended  plains  and  Alpine 
heights  of  abstract  law,  that  we  should  lose  sight  of  the  great 
question  before  the  court? 

This  may  suit  the  purposes  of  the  counsel  for  the  prisoner; 
but  it  does  not,  therefore,  necessarily  suit  the  purposes  of  truth 
and  justice.  It  will  be  proper,  when  we  have  derived  a  prin- 
ciple from  law  or  argument,  that  we  should  bring  it  to  the  case 
before  the  court,  in  order  to  test  its  application  and  its  practical 
truth.  In  doing  which  we  are  driven  into  the  nature  of  the 
case  and  must  speak  of  it  as  we  find  it. 

But,  besides,  the  gentlemen  have  themselves  rendered  this 
totally  abstract  argument  completely  impossible ;  for  one  of 
their  positions  is  that  there  is  no  overt  act  proven  at  all. 
Now,  that  an  overt  act  consists  of  fact  and  intention  has  been 
so  often  repeated  here  that  it  has  a  fair  title  to  Justice 
Vaughan's  epithet  of  a  "decantatum."  In  speaking  then  of 
this  overt  act  we  are  compelled  to  inquire,  not  merely  into 
the  fact  of  the  assemblage,  but  the  intention  of  it;  in  doing 
which  we  must  examine  and  develop  the  whole  project  of  the 
prisoner.  It  is  obvious,  therefore,  that  an  abstract  examina- 
tion of  this  point  cannot  be  made;  and  since  the  gentlemen 


460  WILLIAM    WIRT 

drive  us  into  the  examination  they  cannot  complain  if,  with- 
out any  softening  of  lights  or  deepening  of  shadeb,  we  exhibit 
the  picture  in  its  true  and  natural  state. 

This  motion  is  a  bold  and  original  stroke  in  the  noble  science 
of  defence.  It  marks  the  genius  and  hand  of  a  master.  For 
it  gives  to  the  prisoner  every  possible  advantage,  while  it  gives 
him  the  full  benefit  of  his  legal  defence  —  the  sole  defence 
which  he  would  be  able  to  make  to  the  jury  if  the  evidence 
were  all  introduced  before  them.  It  cuts  off  from  the  prose- 
cution all  that  evidence  which  goes  to  connect  the  prisoner 
with  the  assemblage  on  the  island,  to  explain  the  destination 
and  objects  of  the  assemblage,  and  to  stamp  beyond  contro- 
versy the  character  of  treason  upon  it.  Connect  this  motion 
with  that  which  was  made  the  other  day,  to  compel  us  to  begin 
with  the  proof  of  the  overt  act,  in  which,  from  their  zeal, 
gentlemen  were  equally  sanguine,  and  observe  what  would 
have  been  the  effect  of  success  in  both  motions?  We  should 
have  been  reduced  to  the  single  fact,  the  individual  fact,  of 
the  assemblage  on  the  island,  without  any  of  the  evidence 
which  explains  the  intention  and  object  of  that  assemblage. 
Thus  gentlemen  would  have  cut  off  all  the  evidence  which 
carries  up  the  plot  almost  to  its  conception,  which,  at  all 
events,  describes  the  first  motion  which  quickened  it  into  life, 
and  follows  its  progress  until  it  attained  such  strength  and 
maturity  as  to  throw  the  whole  western  country  into  conster- 
nation. 

Thus,  of  the  world  of  evidence  which  we  have,  we  should 
have  been  reduced  to  the  speck,  the  atom  which  relates 
to  Blennerhassett's  Island.  General  Eaton's  deposition  (hith- 
erto so  much  and  so  justly  revered  as  to  its  subject),  standing 
by  itself  would  have  been  without  the  powerful  fortification 
derived    from    the    corroborative    evidence    of    Commodore 


SPEECH    IN    THE    TRIAL    OF    AARON    BURR  461 

Truxton  and  the  still  stronger  and  most  extraordinary  coinci- 
dence of  the  Morgans.  Standing  alone,  gentlemen  would 
have  still  proceeded  to  speak  of  that  affidavit  as  they  have 
heretofore  done;  not  declaring  that  what  General  Eaton  had 
sworn  was  not  the  truth,  but  that  it  was  a  most  marvellous 
story!  a  most  wonderful  tale!  and  thus  would  they  have  con- 
tinued to  seek,  in  the  bold  and  wild  extravagance  of  the  pro- 
ject itself,  an  argument  against  its  existence  and  a  refuge  from 
public  indignation. 

But  that  refuge  is  taken  away.  General  Eaton's  narration 
stands  confirmed  beyond  the  possibility  of  rational  doubt. 
But  I  ask  what  inference  is  to  be  drawn  from  these  repeated 
attempts  to  stifle  the  prosecution  and  smother  the  evidence? 
If  the  views  of  the  pnsoner  were,  as  they  have  been  so  often 
represented  by  one  of  his  counsel,  highly  honorable  to  himself 
and  glorious  to  his  country,  why  not  permit  the  evidence  to 
disclose  these  views? 

Accused  as  he  is  of  high  treason,  he  would  certainly  stand 
acquitted,  not  only  in  reason  and  justice,  but  by  the  maxims 
of  the  most  squeamish  modesty,  in  showing  us  by  evidence  all 
this  honor  and  this  glory  which  his  scheme  contained. 

IsTo,  sir,  it  is  not  squeamish  modesty;  it  is  not  fastidious  deli- 
cacy that  prompts  these  repeated  efforts  to  keep  back  the  evi- 
dence; it  is  apprehension;  it  is  alarm;  it  is  fear;  or  rather  it  is 
the  certainty  that  the  evidence,  whenever  it  shall  come  for- 
ward, will  fix  the  charge ;  and  if  such  shall  appear  to  the  court 
to  be  the  motive  of  this  motion,  your  honors,  I  well  know,  will 
not  be  disposed  to  sacrifice  public  justice,  committed  to  your 
charge,  by  aiding  this  stratagem  to  elude  the  sentence  of  the 
law;  you  will  yield  to  the  motion  no  further  than  the  rigor 
of  legal  rules  shall  imperiously  constrain  you. 

I  shall  proceed  now  to  examine  the  merits  of  the  motion 


462  WILLIAM    WIET 

itself,  and  to  answer  the  argument  of  the  gentleman 
[Mr.  Wiekham],  who  opened  it.  I  will  treat  that  gentleman 
with  candor.  If  I  misrepresent  him,  it  will  not  be  intention- 
ally. I  will  not  follow  the  example  which  he  has  set  me  on 
a  very  recent  occasion.  I  will  not  complain  of  flowers  and 
graces  where  none  exist.  I  will  not,  like  him,  in  reply  to  an 
argument  as  naked  as  a  sleeping  Venus,  but  certainly  not  half 
so  beautiful,  complain  of  the  painful  necessity  I  am  under,  in 
the  weakness  and  decrepitude  of  logical  vigor,  of  lifting  first 
this  flounce  and  then  that  furbelow  before  I  can  reach  the 
wished-for  point  of  attack.  I  keep  no  flounces  or  furbelows 
ready  manufactured  and  hung  up  for  use  in  the  millinery  of 
my  fancy,  and  if  I  did,  I  think  I  should  not  be  so  indiscreetly 
impatient  to  get  rid  of  my  wares  as  to  put  them  off  on 
improper  occasions. 

I  cannot  promise  to  interest  you  by  any  classical  and  elegant 
allusions  to  the  pure  pages  of  "  Tristram  Shandy."  I  cannot 
give  you  a  squib  or  a  rocket  in  every  period.  For  my  own 
part,  I  have  always  thought  these  flashes  of  wit  (if  they  deserve 
that  name),  I  have  always  thought  these  meteors  of  the  brain, 
which  spring  up  with  such  exuberant  abundance  in  the 
speeches  of  that  gentleman,  which  play  on  each  side  of  the 
path  of  reason,  or,  sporting  across  it  with  fantastic  motion, 
decoy  the  mind  from  the  true  point  in  debate,  no  better  evi- 
dence of  the  soundness  of  the  argument  with  which  they  are 
connected,  nor,  give  me  leave  to  add,  the  vigor  of  the  brain 
from  which  they  spring,  than  those  vapors  which  start  from 
our  marshes  and  blaze  with  a  momentary  combustion,  and 
which,  floating  on  the  undulations  of  the  atmosphere,  beguile 
the  traveler  into  bogs  and  brambles,  are  evidences  of  the  firm- 
ness and  solidity  of  the  earth  from  which  they  proceed. 

I  will  endeavor  to  meet  the  gentleman's  propositions  in  their 


SPEECH    IN    THE    TRIAL   OF    AARON    BtJRR  46B 

full  force  and  to  answer  them  fairly.  I  will  not,  as  I  am 
advancing  towards  them  with  my  mind's  eye,  measure  the 
height,  breadth,  and  power  of  the  proposition;  if  I  find  it 
beyond  my  strength,  halve  it;  if  still  beyond  my  strength, 
quarter  it;  if  still  necessary,  subdivide  it  into  eighths;  and 
when  by  this  process  I  have  reduced  it  to  the  proper  standard 
take  one  of  these  sections  and  toss  it,  with  an  air  of  elephantine 
strength  and  superiority. 

If  I  find  myself  capable  of  conducting,  by  a  fair  course  of 
reasoning,  any  one  of  his  propositions  to  an  absurd  conclusion, 
I  will  not  begin  by  stating  that  absurd  conclusion  as  the  propo- 
sition itself  which  I  am  going  to  encounter.  I  will  not,  in 
commenting  on  the  gentleman's  authorities,  thank  the  gentle- 
man, with  sarcastic  politeness  for  introducing  them,  declare 
that  they  conclude  directly  against  him,  read  just  so  much 
of  the  authority  as  serves  the  purpose  of  that  declaration,  omit- 
ting that  which  contains  the  true  point  of  the  case  which 
makes  against  me;  nor,  if  forced  by  a  direct  call  to  read  that 
part  also,  will  I  content  myself  by  running  over  it  as  rapidly 
and  inarticulately  as  I  can,  throw  down  the  book  with  a 
theatrical  air,  and  exclaim,  "  Just  as  I  said,"  when  I  know  it  is 
just  as  I  had  not  said. 

I  know  that  by  adopting  these  arts  I  might  raise  a  laugh  at 
the  gentleman's  expense;  but  I  should  be  very  little  pleased 
with  myself  if  I  were  capable  of  enjoying  a  laugh  procured 
by  such  means.  I  know,  too,  that  by  adopting  such  arts 
there  will  always  be  those  standing  around  us  who  have  not 
comprehended  the  whole  merits  of  the  legal  discussion,  with 
whom  I  might  shake  the  character  of  the  gentleman's  science 
and  judgment  as  a  lawyer.  I  hope  I  shall  never  be  capable 
of  such  a  wish,  and  I  had  hoped  that  the  gentleman  himself 
felt  so  strongly  that  proud,  that  high,  aspiring,  and  ennobling 


464  WILLIAM    WIRT 

magnanimity  which  I  had  been  told  conscious  talents  rarely 
fail  to  inspire,  that  he  would  have  disdained  a  poor  and  fleeting 
triumph  gained  by  means  like  these. 

I  proceed  now  to  answer  the  several  points  of  his  argument, 
so  far  as  they  could  be  collected  from  the  general  course  of  his 
speech.  I  say,  so  far  as  they  could  be  collected ;  for  the  gentle- 
man, although  requested  before  he  began,  refused  to  reduce 
his  motion  to  writing.  It  suited  better  his  partisan  style  of 
warfare  to  be  perfectly  at  large ;  to  change  his  ground  as  often 
as  he  pleased ;  on  the  plains  of  Monmouth  to-day,  at  the  Eutaw 
Springs  to-morrow.  He  will  not  censure  me,  therefore,  if  I 
have  not  been  correct  in  gathering  his  points  from  a  desultory 
discourse  of  four  or  five  hours'  length,  as  it  would  not  have 
been  wonderful  if  I  had  misunderstood  him.  I  tnist,  there- 
fore, that  I  have  been  correct ;  it  was  my  intention  to  be  so ; 
for  I  can  see  neither  pleasure  nor  interest  in  misrepresenting 
any  gentleman ;  and  I  now  beg  the  court,  and  the  gentleman, 
if  he  will  vouchsafe  it,  to  set  me  right  if  I  have  misconceived 
him. 

I  understood  him,  then,  sir,  to  resist  the  introduction  of 
further  evidence  under  this  indictment  by  making  four 
propositions. 

First.  Because  Aaron  Burr,  not  being  on  the  island  at  the 
time  of  the  assemblage,  cannot  be  a  principal  in  the  treason, 
according  to  the  constitutional  definition  or  the  laws  of 
England. 

Second.  Because  the  indictment  must  be  proved  as  laid; 
and  as  the  indictment  charges  the  prisoner  with  levying  war, 
\\ath  an  assemblage  on  the  island,  no  evidence  to  charge  him 
with  that  act,  by  relation,  is  relevant  to  this  indictment. 

Third.  Because,  if  he  be  a  principal  in  the  treason  at  all, 
lie  is  a  principal  in  the  second  degree ;  and,  his  guilt  being  of 
that  kind  which  is  termed  derivative,  no  parol  evidence  can  be 
let  in  to  charge  him  until  we  shall  show  a  record  of  the  con- 
viction of  the  principals  in  the  first  degree. 


SPEECH    IN    THE    TRIAL    OF    AARON    BURR  465 

Fourtli.  Because  no  evidence  is  relevant  to  connect  the 
prisoner  with  others,  and  thus  to  make  him  a  traitor  by  rela- 
tion, until  we  shall  previously  show  an  act  of  treason  in  these 
others;  and  the  assemblage  on  the  island  was  not  an  act  of 
treason. 

I  beg  leave  to  take  up  these  propositions  in  succession,  and 
to  give  them  those  answers  which  to  my  mind  are  satisfactory. 
Let  us  examine  the  first:  it  is  because  Aaron  Burr,  not  being- 
present  on  the  island  at  the  time  of  the  assemblage,  cannot  be 
a  principal  in  the  treason  within  the  constitutional  definition 
or  the  laws  of  England. 

In  many  of  the  gentleman's  general  propositions  I  perfectly 
accord  with  him:  as  that  the  constitution  was  intended  to 
guard  against  the  calamities  to  which  Montesquieu  refers 
when  he  speaks  of  the  victims  of  treason;  that  the  constitu- 
tion intended  to  guard  against  arbitrary  and  constructive 
treasons;  that  the  principles  of  sound  reason  and  liberty  require 
their  exclusion;  and  that  the  constitution  is  to  be  interpreted 
by  the  rules  of  reason  and  moral  right. 

I  fear,  however,  that  I  shall  find  it  difficult  to  accommodate 
both  the  gentlemen  who  have  spoken  in  support  of  the  motion, 
and  to  reconcile  some  of  the  positions  of  Mr.  Randolph  to  the 
rules  of  Mr.  Wickham;  for,  while  the  one  tells  us  to  intei-pret 
the  constitution  by  sound  reason,  the  other  exclaims,  ''  Save 
us  from  the  deductions  of  common  sense."  What  rule  then 
shall  I  adopts  A  kind  of  reason  which  is  not  common  sense 
might  indeed  please  both  the  gentlemen;  but,  as  that  is  a 
species  of  reason  of  which  I  have  no  very  distinct  conception, 
I  hope  the  gentlemen  will  excuse  me  for  not  employing  it. 
Let  us  return  to  Mr.  Wickham. 

Having  read  to  us  the  constitutional  definition  of  treason, 
and  given  us  the  rule  by  which  it  was  to  be  interpreted,  it  was 
natural  to  expect  that  he  would  have  proceeded  directly  to 

Vol.  4—30 


466  WILLIAM    WIRT 

apply  that  rule  to  the  definition  and  give  us  the  result.  But 
while  we  were  expecting  this,  even  while  we  have  our  eyes  on 
the  gentleman,  he  vanishes  like  a  spirit  from  American  ground, 
and  we  see  him  no  more  until  we  see  him  in  England,  resurg- 
ing  by  a  kind  of  intellectual  magic  in  the  middle  of  the  six- 
teenth century,  complaining  most  dolefully  of  my  Lord  Coke's 
bowels. 

Before  we  follow  him  in  this  excursion  it  may  be  well  to 
inquire  what  it  was  that  induced  him  to  leave  the  regular 
track  of  his  argument.  I  will  tell  you  what  it  was.  It  was, 
sir,  the  decision  of  the  supreme  court  in  the  case  of  Bollman 
and  Swartwout.  It  was  the  judicial  exposition  of  the  consti- 
tution by  the  highest  court  in  the  nation,  upon  the  very  point 
which  the  gentleman  was  considering,  which  made  him  take 
this  flight  to  England;  because  it  stared  him  in  the  face  and 
contradicted  his  position. 

Sir,  if  the  gentleman  had  believed  this  decision  to  be  favor- 
able to  him,  we  should  have  heard  of  it  in  the  beginning  of 
his  argument;  for  the  path  of  inquiry  in  which  he  was  led 
him  directly  to  it. 

Interpreting  the  American  constitution,  he  would  have 
preferred  no  authority  to  that  of  the  supreme  court  of  the 
country.  Yes,  sir,  he  would  have  immediately  seized  this 
decision  with  avidity.  He  would  have  set  it  before  you  in 
every  possible  light.  He  would  have  illustrated  it.  He  would 
have  adorned  it.  You  would  have  seen  it  under  the  action  of 
his  genius  appear  with  all  the  varying  grandeur  of  our  moun- 
tains in  the  morning  sun.  He  would  not  have  relinquished 
it  for  the  commoil  law,  nor  have  deserted  a  rock  so  broad  and 
solid,  to  walk  upon  the  waves  of  the  Atlantic. 

But  he  knew  that  this  decision  closed  against  him  com- 
pletely the  very  point  which  he  was  laboring.     Hence  it  was 


SPEECH    I\    THE    TRIAL    OF    AARON    BURR  407 

ttat  the  decision  was  kept  so  sedulously  out  of  view  until 
from  the  exploded  materials  of  the  common  law  he  thought  he 
had  reared  a  Gothic  edifice  so  hug-e  and  so  dark  as  quite  to 
overshadow  and  eclipse  it.  Let  us  bring  it  from  this  obscurity 
into  the  face  of  day.  AVe  who  are  seeking  truth  and  not  vic- 
tory, whether  right  or  wrong,  have  no  reason  to  turn  our  eyes 
from  any  source  of  light  which  presents  itself,  and  least  of  all 
from  a  source  so  high  and  so  respectable  as  the  decision  of  the 
supreme  court  of  the  United  States. 

The  inquiry^  is,  whether  presence  at  the  overt  act  be  neces- 
sary to  make  a  man  a  traitor?  The  gentlemen  say  that  it  is 
necessar)^;  that  he  cannot  be  a  principal  in  the  treason  without 
actual  presence.  What  says  the  supreme  court  in  the  case  of 
BoUman  and  Swartwout? 

*'  It  is  not  the  intention  of  the  court  to  say  that  no  individual 
can  be  guilty  of  this  crime  who  has  not  appeared  in  arms 
against  his  country;  on  the  contrary,  if  war  be  actually  levied, 
that  is,  if  a  body  of  men  be  assembled  for  the  pui'pose  of  effect- 
ing by  force  a  treasonable  purpose,  all  those  who  perform  any 
part,  however  minute,  or  however  remote  from  the  scene  of 
action,  and  who  are  actually  leagued  in  the  general  conspiracy, 
are  to  be  considered  as  traitors." 

Here  then  we  find  the  court  so  far  from  requiring  presence 
that  it  expressly  declares  that,  however  remote  the  accused 
may  have  been  from  the  scene  of  the  treasonable  assemblage, 
he  is  still  involved  in  the  giiilt  of  that  assemblage,  his  being 
leagued  in  the  general  conspiracy  was  sufficient  to  make  the 
act  his  own. 

The  supreme  court,  being  of  that  opinion,  proceeded  to  an 
elaborate  examination  of  the  evidence,  to  ascertain  whether 
there  had  been  a  treasonable  assemblage.  It  looked  to  the 
depositions  of  General  Eaton  and  General  Wilkinson,  the 
ciphered  letter,  the  declaration  of  Swartwout  that  Burr  was 


468  WILLIAM    WIRT 

levying  an  armed  body  of  seven  thousand  men;  and  it  looked 
to  these  parts  of  the  evidence  expressly  for  the  purpose  of 
discovering  whether  it  were  probable  that  Burr  had  actually 
brought  these  men  together;  not  whether  Bollman  and 
Swartwout  were  present  at  any  such  assemblage. 

It  knew  that,  if  any  such  assemblage  had  taken  place,  Boll- 
man  and  Swartwout  must  have  been  at  that  time  at  the  city  of 
Orleans,  or  on  their  way  thither;  indeed  the  whole  reasoning 
of  the  court  proceeded  on  the  fact,  as  admitted,  of  the  pris- 
oner's absence.  Why,  then,  the  laborious  investigation  which 
the  court  makes  as  to  the  probability  of  Burr  having  brought 
his  men  or  any  part  of  them  together,  unless  the  guilt  of  that 
assemblage  were  to  be  imputed  to  Bollman  and  Swartwout? 
If  their  absence  were  sufficient  to  excuse  them,  that  fact  was 
admitted,  and  the  inquiry  would  have  been  a  very  short  one. 
But,  the  court  having  previously  decided  that  the  fact  of  pres- 
ence or  absence  was  unimportant,  that  it  made  no  odds  how 
far  distant  the  accused  might  be  from  the  treasonable  assem- 
blage, it  became  the  unavoidable  duty  of  the  court  to  proceed 
to  the  inquiry  whether  any  such  assemblage  had  taken  place; 
and  if  the  evidence  had  manifested  that  fact  to  its  satisfaction, 
it  is  clear  that,  in  the  opinion  of  that  court,  the  prisoners 
would  have  been  as  deeply  involved  in  the  guilt  of  that  assem- 
blage as  any  of  those  who  actually  composed  it. 

The  counsel  knew  that  their  first  point  was  met  directly  by 
the  counter  authority  of  the  supreme  court.  They  have 
impliedly,  if  not  expressly,  admitted  it;  hence  they  have  been 
reduced  to  the  necessity  of  taking  the  bold  and  difficult 
ground  that  the  passage  which  I  have  read  is  extra-judicial, 
a  mere  obiter  dictum.  They  have  said  this,  but  they  have 
not  attempted  to  show  it. 

Give  me  leave  to  show  that  they  are  mistaken;  that  it  is 


SPEECH    IN    THE    TRIAL    OF    AARON    BURR  469 

not  an  obiter  dictum,  that  it  is  not  extra-judicial ;  but  that 
it  is  a  direct  adjudication  of  a  point  immediately  before  the 
court.  What  were  the  questions  before  the  court  ?  The  court 
made  no  formal  division  of  this  subject,  but  these  questions 
are  necessarily  and  irresistibly  involved  in  it.  It  must  first 
be  observed  that  the  arrest  of  Bollman  and  Swartwout  at 
New  Orleans,  and  the  fact  that  they  had  not  been  present  at 
any  assemblage  of  the  traitors  in  arms,  were  notorious  and 
admitted.  The  case  then  presented  to  the  court  three  distinct 
questions. 

First.  Has  Aaron  Burr  committed  treason,  or  has  he  been 
engaged  or  leagiied  in  any  treasonable  conspiracy? 

Second.  Were  Bollman  and  Swartwout  connected  with 
him? 

Third.  Could  they  be  guilty  of  treason  without  being  act- 
ually present?  Now,  if  the  court  had  been  satisfied  that  there 
had  been  an  overt  act,  and  that  these  men  were  leagued  in  the 
conspiracy  which  produced  it,  still  it  would  have  remained  a 
distinct  and  substantive  question  whether  their  absence  from 
the  overt  act  and  their  having  no  immediate  hand  in  it  did 
not  discharge  them  from  the  constitutional  guilt  of  levying 
war;  for,  though  leagued  in  the  conspiracy,  and  although 
there  might  have  been  an  overt  act,  these  men  would  have 
been  innocent  if  presence  at  the  overt  act  were  necessary  to 
make  them  guilty. 

The  question  then,  of  presence  or  absence,  was  a  question 
really  presented  by  the  case  of  Bollman  and  Swartwout.  It 
was  one  important  to  the  decision  of  the  case,  and  the  court, 
thinking  it  so,  did  consider  and  decide  it  in  direct  opposition 
to  the  principle  contended  for  on  the  other  side. 

A  plain  man  would  imagine  that  when  the  supreme  court 
had  taken  up  and  decided  the  case   its  decision  would  form  a 


470  WILLIAM    Wife* 

precedent  on  the  subject;  and,  having  that  authority  on  my 
side,  I  should  suppose  that  I  might  safely  dismiss  the  gentle- 
man's first  point.  But  Mr.  Randolph  seems  to  think  it  very 
doubtful  whether  you  ought  to  be  bound  by  that  authority, 
and  that  you  must  be  very  much  embarrassed  to  have  to  decide 
it,  even  admitting  it  to  be  a  regular  judicial  determination  of 
this  question;  for  he  made  a  very  pathetic  and  alfecting  apos- 
trophe to  the  situation  in  which  you  would  be  placed  if  you 
differed  from  this  opinion  of  the  supreme  court. 

I  see  no  difficulty  in  the  case  if  our  laws  are  to  be  uniform. 
How  can  the  inferior  court  control  the  decisions  of  the  superior 
court  ?  You  are  but  a  branch  of  the  supreme  court.  If  you, 
sir,  sitting  as  a  circuit  court,  have  a  right  to  disegard  the  rule 
decided  by  the  supreme  court,  and  adopt  a  different  rule, 
every  other  inferior  court  has  an  equal  right  to  do  the  same, 
so  that  there  will  be  as  many  various  rules  as  to  treason  as 
there  are  courts;  and  the  result  might  be,  and  certainly  would 
be,  that  what  would  be  treason  in  one  circuit  would  not  be 
treason  in  another;  and  a  man  might  be  hanged  in  Pennsyl- 
vania for  an  act  against  the  United  States  of  which  he  would 
be  held  perfectly  innocent  in  Virginia. 

Thus  treason  against  the  United  States  would  still  be  unset- 
tled and  fluctuating,  and  the  object  of  the  constitution  in 
defining  it  would  be  disappointed  and  defeated;  whereas  a 
principle  of  law  solemnly  adjudged  by  the  supreme  court 
becomes,  I  apprehend,  the  law  of  the  land;  and  all  the  inferior 
courts  are  compulsorily  bound  by  it.  To  say  that  they  are 
not  is  to  disorganize  the  whole  judiciary  system,  to  confound 
the  distinctions  and  grades  of  the  courts,  to  banish  all  cer- 
tainty and  stability  from  the  law,  and  to  destroy  all  unifonnity 
of  decision.  I  trust  that  we  are  not  prepared  to  rush  into  this 
wild  disorder  and  confusion,  but  that  we  shall  temperately  and 


SPEECH    IN    THE    TRIAL    OP    AARON    BURR  471 

regularly  confonn  to  the  decrees  of  that  parent  court,  of  which 
this  is  a  mere  branch,  until  those  decrees  shall  be  changed  by 
the  same  high  authority  which  created  them. 

But  for  a  moment  let  us  relinquish  that  decision,  and,  put- 
ting it  aside,  let  us  indulge  the  gentleman  with  the  inquiry 
whether  that  decision  be  in  conformity  with  the  constitution 
of  the  United  States  and  the  laws  of  England.  In  fnter- 
preting  the  constitution  let  us  apply  to  it  the  gentleman's 
own  principles :  the  rules  of  reason  and  moral  right.  The 
question  to  be  thus  determined  is  whether  a  man  who  is 
absent  may  not  be  guilty  as  if  he  were  actually  present. 

That  a  law  should  be  so  construed  as  to  advance  the 
remedy  and  repress  the  mischief  is  not  more  a  rule  of  com- 
mon law  than  a  principle  of  reason ;  it  applies  to  penal  as  well 
as  to  remedial  laws.  So  also  the  maxim  of  the  common  law, 
that  a  law  as  well  as  a  covenant  should  be  so  construed  that  its 
object  may  rather  prevail  than  perish,  is  one  of  the  plainest 
dictates  of  common  sense. 

Apply  these  principles  to  the  constitution.  Gentlemen 
have  said  that  its  object  was  to  prevent  the  people  from  being 
harassed  by  arbitrary  and  constructive  treason.  But  its  object, 
I  presume,  was  not  to  declare  that  there  was  no  such  crime. 
It  certainly  did  not  mean  to  encourage  treason.  It  meant  to 
recognize  the  existence  of  the  crime  and  provide  for  its  punish- 
ment. The  liberties  of  the  people,  which  required  that  the 
offence  should  be  defined,  circumscribed,  and  limited,  re- 
quired also  that  it  should  be  certainly  and  adequately  pun- 
ished. 

The  framers  of  the  constitution,  informed  by  the  examples 
of  Greece  and  Rome,  and  foreseeing  that  the  liberties  of  this 
Republic  might  one  day  or  other  be  seized  by  the  daring 
ambition  of  some  domestic  usurper,  have  given  peculiar  im- 


472  WILLIAM    WIRT 

portance  and  solemnity  to  the  crime  by  engrafting  it  upon 
the  constitution.  But  they  have  done  this  in  vain  if  the 
construction  contended  for  on  the  other  side  is  to  prevail.  If 
it  require  actual  presence  at  the  scene  of  the  assemblage  to 
involve  a  man  in  the  guilt  of  treason,  how  easy  will  it  be  for 
the  principal  traitor  to  avoid  this  g-uilt  and  escape  punishment 
forever!  He  may  go  into  distant  States,  from  one  State  to 
another.  He  may  secretly  wander,  like  a  demon  of  darkness, 
from  one  end  of  the  continent  to  the  other. 

He  may  enter  into  the  confidence  of  the  simple  and  unsus- 
pecting. He  may  pour  his  poison  into  the  minds  of  those  who 
were  before  innocent.  He  may  seduce  them  into  a  love  of 
his  person,  offer  them  advantages,  pretend  that  his  measures 
are  honorable  and  beneficial,  connect  them  in  his  plot  and 
attach  them  to  his  glory.  He  may  prepare  the  whole  mechan- 
ism of  the  stupendous  and  destructive  engine  and  put  it  in 
motion.  Let  the  rest  be  done  by  his  agents.  He  may  then 
go  a  hundred  miles  from  the  scene  of  action.  Let  him  keep 
himself  only  from  the  scene  of  the  assemblage  and  the  imme- 
diate spot  of  battle,  and  he  is  innocent  in  law,  while  those 
whom  he  has  deluded  are  to  suffer  the  death  of  traitors!  Who 
is  the  most  guilty  of  this  treason,  the  poor,  weak,  deluded 
instruments,  or  the  artful  and  ambitious  man  who  coiTupted 
and  misled  them?  There  is  no  comparison  between  his  guilt 
and  theirs;  and  yet  you  secure  impunity  to  him  while  they  are 
to  suffer  death !  Is  this  according  to  the  rules  of  reason  ?  Is 
this  moral  right?  Is  this  a  means  of  preventing  treason ?  Or 
rather,  is  it  not  in  truth  a  direct  invitation  to  it?  Sir,  it  is 
obvious  that  neither  reason  nor  moral  rights  require  actual 
presence  at  the  overt  act  to  constitute  the  crime  of  treason. 
Put  this  case  to  any  common  man,  whether  the  absence  of  a 
corrupter  should  exempt  him  from  punishment  for  the  crime 


SPEECH    IN    THE    TRIAL   OF    AARON    BURR  473 

which  he  has  excited  his  deluded  agents  to  commit;  and  he 
will  instantly  tell  you  that  he  deserves  infinitely  more  severe 
punishment  than  his  misguided  instruments.  There  is  a 
moral  sense  much  more  unerring  in  questions  of  this  sort  than 
the  frigid  deductions  of  jurists  or  philosophers;  and  no  man 
of  a  sound  mind  and  heart  can  doubt  for  a  moment  between 
the  comparative  guilt  of  Aaron  Burr  (the  prime  mover  of  the 
whole  mischief),  and  the  poor  men  on  Blennerhassett's  Island, 
who  called  themselves  Burr's  men.  In  the  case  of  murder, 
who  is  the  most  guilty,  the  ignorant,  deluded  perpetrator,  or 
the  abominable  instigator  ?  The  decision  of  the  supreme 
court,  sir,  is  so  far  from  being  impracticable  on  the  ground 
of  reason  and  moral  right,  that  it  is  supported  by  their  most 
obvious  and  palpable  dictates. 

Give  to  the  constitution  the  construction  contended  for  on 
the  other  side,  and  you  might  as  well  expunge  the  crime  from 
your  criminal  code;  nay,  you  had  better  do  it,  for  by  this  con- 
struction you  hold  out  the  lure  of  impunity  to  the  most  dan- 
gerous men  in  the  community,  men  of  ambition  and  talents, 
while  you  loose  the  vengeance  of  the  law  on  the  comparatively 
innocent.  If  treason  ought  to  be  repressed,  I  ask  you  who  is 
the  most  dangerous  and  the  most  likely  to  commit  it  —  the 
mere  instrument  who  applies  the  force,  or  the  daring,  aspir- 
ing, elevated  genius  who  devises  the  whole  plot,  but  acts 
behind  the  scenes?  .  ,  . 

I  come  now,  sir,  to  the  gentleman's  third  point,  in  which 
he  says  he  cannot  possibly  fail.     It  is  this: 

"  Because,  if  the  prisoner  be  a  principal  in  the  treason  at 
all,  he  is  a  principal  in  the  second  degree ;  and,  his  guilt  being 
of  that  kind  which  is  termed  derivative,  no  further  parol 
evidence  can  be  let  in  to  charge  him  until  we  show  a  record 
of  the  conviction  of  the  principals  in  the  first  degree." 


474  WILLIAM    WIRT 

By  this  I  understand  the  gentleman  to  advance,  in  other 
terms,  the  common-law  doctrine  that  when  a  man  is  rendered 
a  principal  in  treason  by  acts  which  would  make  him  an 
accessory  in  felony  he  cannot  be  tried  before  the  principal  in 
the  first  degree. 

I  understand  this  to  be  the  doctrine  of  the  common  law 
as  established  by  all  the  authorities;  but  when  I  concede  this 
point  I  insist  that  it  can  have  no  effect  in  favor  of  the  accused 
for  two  reasons:  first,  because  it  is  the  mere  creature  of  the 
common  law;  secondly,  because,  if  the  common  law  of  Eng- 
land be  our  law,  this  position  assumes  what  is  denied,  that 
the  conduct  of  the  prisoner  in  this  case  is  of  an  accessorial 
nature,  or  such  as  would  make  him  an  accessory  in  felony. 

First.  Because  this  position  is  the  mere  creature  of  the 
common  law.  If  it  be  so,  no  consequence  can  be  deduced 
from  it.  It  is  sufficient,  on  this  branch  of  the  subject,  to  take 
his  own  declaration  that  the  common  law  does  not  exist  in 
this  country.  If  we  examine  the  constitution  and  the  act 
of  Congress  we  shall  find  that  this  idea  of  a  distinction 
between  principals  in  the  first  and  second  degree  depends 
entirely  upon  the  common  law.  ISTeither  the  constitution  nor 
the  act  of  Congress  knows  any  such  distinction. 

All  who  levy  war  against  the  United  States,  whether  pres- 
ent or  absent  —  all  who  are  leagued  in  the  conspiracy,  whether 
on  the  spot  of  the  assemblage  or  pcrfonning  some  minute  and 
inconsiderable  part  in  it  a  thousand  miles  from  the  scene  of 
action  —  incur  equally  the  sentence  of  the  law ;  they  are  all 
equally  traitors.  This  scale,  therefore,  which  graduates  the 
guilt  of  the  offenders  and  establishes  the  order  of  their  respec- 
tive trials,  if  it  ever  existed  here,  is  completely  abrogated  by 
the  highest  authorities  in  this  country.  The  convention  which 
formed  the  constitution  and  defined  treason,  Congress  which 


^EECH    IN    THE    TRIAL    OF    AARON    BURR 


475 


legislated  on  that  subject,  and  the  supreme  judiciaiy  of  the 
country  expounding  the  constitution  and  the  law,  have  united 
in  its  abrogation. 

But  let  us  for  a  moment  put  the  convention.  Congress,  and 
judiciary  aside,  and  examine  how  the  case  will  stand.  Still 
this  scale  of  moral  guilt,  which  Mr.  Wickham  has  given  us, 
is  the  creature  of  the  common  law,  which,  as  already  observed, 
he  himself  in  another  branch  of  his  argument  has  emphat- 
ically told  us  does  not  exist  in  this  country.  He  has  stated 
that  the  creature  presupposes  the  creator,  and  that  wliere  the 
c.    itor  does  not  exist    the  creature  cannot. 

The  common  law,  then,  being  the  creator  of  the  rule  which 
Mr.  Wickham  has  given  us,  and  that  common  law  not  exist- 
ing in  this  country,  neither  can  the  rule,  which  is  the  mere 
creature  of  it,  exist  in  this  country.  So  that  the  gentleman 
has  himself  fumislied  the  argument  which  refutes  this  infal- 
lible point  of  his,  on  which  he  has  so  much  relied.  But  to 
try  this  position  to  its  utmost  extent,  let  us  not  only  put  aside 
the  constitution  and  act  of  Congress  and  decision  of  the 
supreme  court,  but  let  us  admit  that  the  common  law  does 
exist  here.  Still,  before  the  principle  could  apply,  it  would 
remain  to  be  proven  that  the  conduct  of  the  prisoner  in  this 
case  has  been  accessorial ;  or,  in  other  words,  that  his  acts 
in  relation  to  this  treason  are  of  such  a  nature  as  would  make 
him  an  accessory  in  felony. 

But  is  this  the  case?  It  is  a  mere  petitio  principii.  It 
is  denied  that  his  acts  are  such  as  would  make  him  an  acces- 
sory in  felony.  I  have  already,  in  another  branch  of  this 
subject,  endeavored  to  show,  on  the  grounds  of  authority  and 
reason,  that  a  man  might  be  involved  in  the  guilt  of  treason 
as  a  principal,  by  being  legally  though  not  actually  present; 
that  treason  occupied  a  much  ^vider  space  than  felony;  that 


476  WILLIAM    WIRT 

the  scale  of  proximity  between  the  accessory  and  principal 
must  be  extended  in  proportion  to  the  extent  of  the  theatre 
of  the  treason ;  and  that,  as  the  prisoner  must  be  considered 
as  legally  present,  he  could  not  be  an  accessory  but  a  principal. 
If  I  have  succeeded  in  this,  I  have  in  fact  proved  that  his  con- 
duct cannot  be  deemed  accessorial. 

But  an  eri'or  has  taken  place  from  considering  the  scene 
of  the  overt  act  as  the  theatre  of  the  treason,  from  mistaking 
the  overt  act  of  the  treason  itself,  and  consequently  from 
referring  the  conduct  of  the  prisoner  to  the  acts  on  the  island. 
The  conduct  of  Aaron  Burr  has  been  considered  in  relation 
to  the  overt  act  on  Blennerhassett's  Island  only;  whereas  it 
ought  to  be  considered  in  connection  with  the  grand  design, 
the  deep  plot  of  seizing  Orleans,  separating  the  Union,  and 
establishing  an  independent  empire  in  the  west,  of  which  the 
prisoner  was  to  be  the  chief.  It  ought  to  be  recollected  that 
these  were  hi<  objects,  and  that  the  whole  western  country, 
from  Beaver  to  Orleans,  was  the  theatre  of  his  treasonable 
operations.  It  is  by  this  first  reasoning  that  you  are  to  con- 
sider whether  he  be  a  principal  or  an  accessory,  and  not  by 
limiting  your  inquiries  to  the  circumscribed  and  narrow  spot 
in  the  island  where  the  acts  charged  happened  to  be  per- 
formed. 

Having  shown,  I  think,  on  the  ground  of  law,  that  the  pris- 
oner cannot  be  considered  as  an  accessory,  let  me  press  the 
inquiry  whether  on  the  ground  of  reason  he  be  a  principal 
or  accessory;  and  remember  that  his  project  was  to  seize  New 
Orleans,  separate  the  Union,  and  erect  an  independent  empire 
in  the  west,  of  which  he  was  to  be  the  chief.  This  was  the 
destination  of  the  plot  and  the  conclusion  of  the  drama.  Will 
any  man  say  that  Blennerhassett  was  the  principal,  and  Burr 
but  an  accessory?     Who  will  believe  that  Burr,  the  author 


SPEECH    IN    THE    TRIAL    OF    AARON    BURR  477 

and  projector  of  the  plot,  who  raised  the  forces,  who  enlisted 
the  men,  and  who  procured  the  funds  for  carrying  it  into 
execution,  was  made  a  cat's-paw  of? 

Will  any  man  believe  that  Burr,  who  is  a  soldier,  bold, 
ardent,  restless  and  aspiring,  the  great  actor  whose  brain  con- 
ceived, and  whose  hand  brought  the  plot  into  operation,  that 
he  should  sink  down  into  an  accessory,  and  that  Blennerhassett 
should  be  elevated  into  a  principal  ?  He  would  startle  at  once 
at  the  thought.  Aaron  Burr,  the  contriver  of  the  whole  con- 
spiracy, to  everybody  concerned  in  it  was  as  the  sun  to  the 
planets  which  surround  him.  Did  he  not  bind  them  in  their 
respective  orbits  and  give  them  their  light,  their  heat,  and 
their  motion  ?  Yet  he  is  to  be  considered  as  accessory,  and 
Blennerhassett  is  to  be  the  principal ! 

Let  us  put  the  case  between  Burr  and  Blennerhassett.  Let 
us  compare  the  two  men  and  settle  this  question  of  precedence 
between  them.  It  may  save  a  good  deal  of  troublesome  cere- 
mony hereafter. 

Who  Aaron  Burr  is,  wc  have  seen  in  part  already.  I  will 
add,  that  beginning  his  operations  in  New  York,  he  associates 
with  him  men  whose  wealth  is  to  supply  the  necessary  funds. 
Possessed  of  the  mainspring,  his  personal  labor  contrives  all 
the  machinery.  Pervading  the  continent  from  New  York 
to  New  Orleans,  he  draws  into  his  plan,  by  every  allurement 
which  he  can  contrive,  men  of  all  ranks  and  descriptions.  To 
youthful  ardor  he  presents  danger  and  glory;  to  ambition, 
rank  and  titles  and  honors;  to  avarice  the  mines  of  Mexico. 
To  each  person  whom  he  addresses  he  presents  the  object 
adapted  to  his  taste.  His  recruiting-officers  are  appointed. 
Men  are  engaged  throughout  the  continent. 

Civil  life  is  indeed  quiet  upon  its  surface,  but  in  its  bosom 
this  man  has  contrived  to  deposit  the  materials  which,  with 


478  WILLIAM    "WIRT 

the  slightest  touch  of  his  match,  produce  an  explosion  to  shake 
the  continent. 

All  this  his  restless  ambition  has  contrived;  and  in  the 
autumn  of  1806  he  goes  forth  for  the  last  time  to  apply  this 
match.     On  this  occasion  he  meets  with  Blennerhassett. 

"VVho  is  Blennerhassett?  A  native  of  Ireland,  a  man  of 
letters,  who  fled  from  the  storms  of  his  own  country  to  find 
quiet  in  ours.  His  history  shows  that  war  is  not  the  natural 
clement  of  his  mind.  If  it  had  been,  he  never  would  have 
exchanged  Ireland  for  America.  So  far  is  an  army  from 
furnishing  the  society  natural  and  proper  to  Mr.  Blenner- 
hassett's  character,  that  on  his  amval  in  America  he  retired 
even  from  the  population  of  the  Atlantic  States  and  sought 
quiet  and  solitude  in  the  bosom  of  our  western  forests. 

But  he  carried  with  him  taste  and  science  and  wealth;  and 
lo,  the  desert  smiled!  Possessing  himself  of  a  beautiful  island 
in  the  Ohio,  he  rears  upon  it  a  palace  and  decorates  it  with 
every  romantic  embellishment  of  fancy.  A  shrubbery  that 
Shenstone  might  have  envied  blooms  around  him.  Music 
that  might  have  charmed  Calypso  and  her  nymphs  is  his.  An 
extensive  library  spreads  its  treasures  before  him.  A  phil- 
osophical apparatus  offers  to  him  all  the  secrets  and  mysteries 
of  nature.  Peace,  tranquillity,  and  innocence  shed  their  min- 
gled delights  around  him. 

And  to  crown  the  enchantment  of  the  scene,  a  wife,  who 
is  said  to  be  lovely  even  beyond  her  sex,  and  graced  with  every 
accomplishment  that  can  render  it  irresistible,  had  blessed  him 
with  her  love  and  made  him  the  father  of  several  children. 

The  evidence  would  convince  you  that  this  is  but  a  faint 
picture  of  the  real  life.  In  the  midst  of  all  this  peace,  this 
innocent  simplicity,  and  this  tranquillity,  this  feast  of  the 
mind,  this  pure  banquet  of  the  heart,  the  destroyer  comes;  he 


SPEECH    IN    THE    TRIAL    OF    AARON    BURR  479 

comes  to  change  this  paradise  into  a  hell.  Yet  the  flo\vei*s  do 
not  wither  at  his  approach.  No  monitory  shuddering  through 
the  bosom  of  their  unfortunate  possessor  warns  him  of  the 
ruin  that  is  coming  upon  him. 

A  stranger  presents  himself.  Introduced  to  their  civilities 
by  the  high  rank  which  he  had  lately  held  in  his  country, 
he  soon  finds  his  way  to  their  hearts  by  the  dignity  and  ele- 
gance of  his  demeanor,  the  light  and  beauty  of  his  conversa- 
tion, and  the  seductive  and  fascinating  power  of  his  address. 
The  conquest  was  not  difficult.  Innocence  is  ever  simple  and 
credulous.  Conscious  of  no  design  itself,  it  suspects  none  in 
others.  It  wears  no  guard  before  its  breast.  Every  door, 
and  portal,  and  avenue  of  the  heart  is  thrown  open,  and  all 
who  choose  it  enter.  Such  was  the  state  of  Eden  when  the 
serpent  entered  its  bowers. 

The  prisoner,  in  a  more  engaging  form,  winding  himself 
into  the  open  and  unpractised  heart  of  the  unfortunate  Blen- 
nerhassett,  found  but  little  difficulty  in  changing  the  native 
character  of  that  heart  and  the  objects  of  its  affection.  By 
degrees  he  infuses  into  it  the  poison  of  his  own  ambition.  He 
breathes  into  it  the  fire  of  his  own  courage ;  a  daring  and  des- 
perate thirst  for  glory ;  an  ardor  panting  for  great  enterprises, 
for  all  the  storm  and  bustle  and  hurricane  of  life.  In  a  short 
time  the  whole  man  is  changed,  and  every  object  of  his  former 
delight  is  relinquished.  ]^o  more  he  enjoys  the  tranquil 
scene;  it  has  become  flat  and  insipid  to  his  taste.  His  books 
are  abandoned.  His  retort  and  crucible  are  thrown  aside. 
His  shrubbery  blooms  and  breathes  its  fragrance  upon  the 
air  in  vain;  he  likes  it  not.  His  ear  no  longer  drinks  the 
rich  melody  of  music;  it  longs  for  the  trumpet's  clangor  and 
the  cannon's  roar.  Even  the  prattle  of  his  babes,  once  so 
sweet,  no  longer  affects  him;  and  the  angel  smile  of  his  wife, 


480  WILLIAM    WIRT 

which  hitherto  touched  his  bosom  with  ecstasy  so  unspeakable, 
is  now  unseen  and  unfelt. 

Greater  objects  have  taken  possession  of  his  soul.  His 
imagination  has  been  dazzled  by  visions  of  diadems,  of  stars, 
and  garters,  and  titles  of  nobility.  He  has  been  taught  to 
bum  with  restless  emulation  at  the  names  of  great  heroes  and 
conquerors.  His  enchanted  island  is  destined  soon  to  relapse 
into  a  wilderness;  and  in  a  few  months  we  find  the  beautiful 
and  tender  partner  of  his  bosom,  whom  he  lately  "  permitted 
not  the  winds  of"  summer  ''to  visit  too  roughly,"  we  find 
her  shivering  at  midnight  on  the  wintry  banks  of  the  Ohio, 
and  mingling  her  tears  with  the  torrents  that  froze  as  they 
fell. 

Yet  this  unfortunate  man,  thus  deluded  from  his  interest 
and  his  happiness,  thus  seduced  from  the  paths  of  innocence 
and  peace,  thus  confounded  in  the  toils  that  were  deliberately 
spread  for  him,  and  overwhelmed  by  the  mastering  spirit  and 
genius  of  another  —  this  man,  thus  ruined  and  undone,  and 
made  to  play  a  subordinate  part  in  this  grand  drama  of  guilt 
and  treason,  this  man  is  to  be  called  the  principal  offender, 
while  he  by  whom  he  was  thus  plunged  in  misery  is  com- 
paratively innocent,  a  mere  accessory!  Is  this  reason?  Is  it 
law?     Is  it  humanity? 

Sir,  neither  the  human  heart  nor  the  human  understanding 
will  bear  a  perversion  so  monstrous  and  absurd!  so  shocking 
to  the  soul!  so  revolting  to  reason!  Let  Aaron  Burr,  then, 
not  shrink  from  the  high  destination  which  he  has  courted, 
and,  having  already  ruined  Blennerhassett  in  fortune,  char- 
acter, and  happiness  forever,  let  him  not  attempt  to  finish  the 
tragedy  by  thrusting  that  ill-fated  man  between  himself  and 
punishment. 

Upon  the  whole,  sir,  reason  declares  Aaron  Burr  the  prin- 


SPEECH    IN    THE    TRIAL    OF    AARON    BURR  481 

cipal  in  this  crime,  and  confirms  herein  the  sentence  of  the 
law;  and  the  gentleman,  in  saying  that  his  offence  is  of  a 
derivative  and  accessorial  nature,  begs  the  question  and  draws 
his  conclusions  from  what,  instead  of  being  conceded,  is 
denied.  It  is  clear  from  what  has  been  said  that  Bun-  did 
not  derive  his  guilt  from  the  men  on  the  island,  but  imparted 
his  own  guilt  to  them ;  that  he  is  not  an  accessory,  but  a  princi- 
pal ;  and  therefore  that  there  is  nothing  in  the  objection 
which  demands  a  record  of  their  conviction  before  we  shall  go 
on  with  our  proof  against  him. 

But  suppose  you  should  think  otherwise,  suppose  you  were 
of  opinion  that  on  principles  of  law  and  reason  (notwith- 
standing the  seeming  injustice  and  inhumanity  of  considering 
him  as  inferior  in  guilt  to  them),  Aaron  Burr  was  not  a  prin- 
cipal, but  an  accessorial  offender  in  the  treason;  would  you, for 
that  reason,  stop  the  evidence  from  going  to  the  jury !  Now, 
to  inquire  whether  the  conduct  of  Aaron  Burr  makes  him 
liable  as  a  principal  or  accessory  is  only  arguing  in  a  different 
shape  the  whole  question  whether  he  has  committed  an  overt 
act  of  war  or  not.  The  jury  are  to  consult  and  decide  whether 
he  be  a  principal  offender  or  not.  Whether  he  be  a  prin- 
cipal or  accessory  is  a  question  of  fact  which  they  are  sworn 
to  decide.  The  court  must  judge  of  the  weight  of  evidence 
before  it  can  say  that  the  accused  is  either  a  principal  or 
accessory.  Suppose  one  part  of  the  evidence  contradicts 
another.  Is  it  not  judging  of  the  weight  of  evidence  to  decide 
whether  he  be  a  principal  or  accessory?  If  it  be  not,  I  know 
not  what  judging  of  the  weight  of  evidence  is.  Xothing  is 
more  peculiarly  within  the  exclusive  province  of  the  jury 
than  the  sufficiency  or  insufficiency  of  the  evidence. 

But  the  court  never  says  that  the  evidence  is  or  is  not  suffi- 
cient to  prove  w^hat  it  is  intended  to  establish.     No  court  has 

Vol.  4-31 


482  WILLIAM    WIRT 

such  right.  The  course  in  such  cases  is  to  give  instructions 
in  a  general  charge  to  the  jury  after  all  the  evidence  shall 
have  been  heard.  AVill  you,  because  of  your  impressions  on 
this  subject,  from  a  merely  partial  view  of  the  evidence,  com- 
pel the  jury  also  to  decide  on  that  necessarily  partial  view? 
If  you  do,  do  you  not  thereby  divest  the  jury  of  their  peculiar 
functions?  Their  province  should  not  be  invaded.  The 
invasion  is  big  with  danger  and  terror.  I  trust  that  you  will 
see  this  subject  in  the  awful  light  in  which  it  really  stands, 
and  that  you  will  suffer  the  trial  to  take  its  natural  course. 

Mr.  Martin  has  referred  you  to  a  number  of  cases  from 
Cooper  and  other  authors,  but  they  do  not  prove  the  position 
intended.  The  court,  in  all  these  cases,  leaves  the  jury  to 
decide  on  the  overt  act.  You  will  find  those  cases  to  amount 
simply  to  this:  a  dialogue  between  the  court  and  the  counsel 
of  the  prisoner  as  to  the  overt  act.  The  court  was  required 
to  say  whether  the  overt  act  were  ])roved  or  not.  There  was 
no  judicial  determination.  The  judge  merely  told  his  opin- 
ion; but  he  told  the  jury  at  the  same  time  that  the  decision 
belonged  to  them  and  not  to  him. 

There  is  a  wide  difference  between  criminal  and  civil  cases; 
and  as  it  is  of  much  more  importance  to  preserve  the  trial  by 
jury  in  the  former,  to  protect  the  lives  of  the  people  against 
unjust  persecutions,  than  in  mere  civil  suits,  to  preser\'e  the 
rights  of  property,  the  constitution  has  secured  that  trial  in 
all  criminal  prosecutions. 

Should  the  court  interfere  for  the  purpose  of  stopping  the 
evidence  and  to  wrest  the  cause  from  the  jury  in  favor  of  the 
accused,  would  there  not  be  a  reciprocal  right  ?  If  it  can  inter- 
fere to  save  the  prisoner,  can  they  not  interfere  equally  against 
him?  A  thing  unprecedented  in  the  annals  of  jurisprudence. 
Have  the  counsel   on  either  side   a  right  to  call  on  the  other 


MiadirfaMididka^ 


SPEECH    IN    THE    TRIAL    OF    AARON    BURR  483 

side  to  state  all  their  evidence  before  it  be  introduced,  and 
then  to  address  the  court  without  hearing  it,  if  they  think  they 
have  a  better  chance  before  the  court  than  the  jury?  Has 
either  party  a  right  to  substitute  the  court  for  the  jury,  or  the 
jury  for  the  court,  at  pleasure;  to  address  the  court  on  facts, 
or  the  jury  on  points  of  law?  Such  an  attempt  would  not  be 
a  greater  encroachment  on  the  right  of  the  proper  tribunal 
than  the  present  motion  is  on  the  rights  of  the  jury. 


y^ 


V,/-"^ 


N  j^ 


.- \ 


•^ 


■/ 


/ 


THS  BOOf<  (S-NOT  TO  IE 


^^• 


•^tO 


^  VLi  y     *3?Tr'  ' 


REFERENCE 


